IC-NRLF 


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CONSERVATION    OF 
NATIONAL     IDEALS 


Home  Mission   Study   Course 

Each  volume  12mo,  cloth,  50c.  net;  paper,  30c.  net. 

1.  Under  Our  Flag 

A  study  of  conditions  in  America  from  the  standpoint 

of  Women's  Home  Missionary  work. 
By  ALICE  M.  GUERNSEY 

"A  text-book  of  sifted  studies  for  home  mission  classes 
and  meetings,  with  suggestions  for  various  uses  of  the  ma 
terial  it  contains." — Congregationalist. 

2.  The  Burden  of  the  City 

By  ISABELLE  HORTON 

"Settlement  Work,  the  Modern  Church  and  its  Methods, 
the  Deaconess  in  City  Missions,  Children's  Work,  and  Co 
operation.  It  constitutes  a  manual  of  practical  philanthropy 
worthy  of  study  in  all  churches." — Tlie  Outlook. 

3.  Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbors 

By  JULIA  H.  JOHNSTON 

11  Pull  of  information  with  which  every  Christian  patriot 
should  be  familiar  in  regard  to  the  Indians  ;  origin,  tribes, 
characteristics,  environment,  language,  religion,  wrongs 
and  rights,  etc. ;  also  of  the  Spanish-speaking  people  in  New 
Mexico,  Arizona,  California,  Porto  Rico."— Olive  Trees. 

4.  The  Incoming  Millions 

By  HOWARD  B.  GROSE,  D.  D. 

"The  result  of  much  study  of  the  Immigrants,  the  tide 
of  whose  coming  is  ever  increasing,  and  of  their  spiritual 
needs  and  their  influence  upon  America." — Westminster. 

5.  Citizens  of  To-morrow 

By  ALICE  M.  GUERNSEY 

"Takes  up  the  study  of  childhood  and  youth  from  the 
standpoint  of  home  mission  work.  It  is  most  thorough, 
and  excellently  adapted  for  both  reading  and  study." — 
Christian  Advocate  (N.  Y.) 

6.  The  Call  of  the  Waters 

A  Study  of  the  Frontier. 

By  KATHERINE  R.  CROWELL 

The  story  of  American  pioneer  life  as  it  followed  the 
waterways  of  the  country,  ever  moving  westward  and 
northwestward,  planting  a  new  civilization  and  calling 
for  continually  extending  home  mission  effort. 

7.  From  Darkness  to  Light 

A  story  of  Negro  Progress.     By  MARY  HELM. 

A  Study  showing  the  processes  of  the  evolution 
through  whfch  the  race  has  passed  from  an  African  savage 
to  a  Christian  citizen  of  America. 

8.  Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

Quite  apart  from  its  use  as  a  text-book,  this  volume 
will  be  found  of  large  interest  to  all  Americans  whose 
patriotism  would  conserve  what  is  most  worthy  in  all 
that  America  stands  for. 


Issued  under  the  direction  of  the  Council  of 
Women  for  Home  Missions 


CONSERVATION  OF 
NATIONAL    IDEALS 


By 

MRS.  D.  B.  WELLS 

PROF.  EDWARD  A.  STEINER 

RAY  STANNARD  BAKER 

PROF.  WALTER  C.  RAUSCHENBUSCH 

Miss  E.  B.  VERMILYE 

REV.  CHARLES  L.  THOMPSON,  D.  D. 


NEW  YORK          CHICAGO         TORONTO 
Fleming  H.   Revell   Company 

LONDON  AND  EDINBURGH 


Copyright,  1911,  by 
FLEMING   H.    REVELL  COMPANY 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  123  North  Wabash  Ave. 
Toronto:  25  Richmond  Street,  W. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:  100  Princes  Street 


From  the  Editorial  Committee 

Text-books  of  the  Home  Mission  Study  Course 

"  Under  Our  Flag"  -  -  Alice  M.  Guernsey. 
"  The  Burden  of  the  City  "  Isabelle  Horton. 

"  Indian  and  Spanish  Neighbours  "  Julia  H.  Johnston. 
"  The  Incoming  Millions  "  Howard  B.  Grose,  D.  D. 
"  Citizens  of  To-morrow  "  -  Alice  M.  Guernsey. 
"  The  Call  of  the  Waters"  -  Katharine  R.  Crowell. 
"  FromDarkness  to  Light  "  Mary  Helm. 

"  Advance  in  the  Antilles  "  Howard  B.  Grose,  D.  D. 

AT   a    representative    meeting    not   long 
since,  where  restriction  of  immigration 
was  considered,  the  greater  number  of 
the  speakers  were  men  who  had  themselves  emi 
grated   to   this  country  from  various  European 
states  and  were  but  naturalized  citizens.     When 
one  considers  that  the  vast  majority  of  the  popu 
lation  of  the  United  States  is  made  up  of  nat 
uralized   immigrants,  or   citizens  whose   parents 
were  immigrants,  there  is  great  danger  that  true 
American  ideals  will  be  lost  sight  of,  and  that 
the  standards  by  which  our  forefathers  founded 
American  institutions  may  be  lowered  or  changed. 
Therefore,    a    book    dealing    with    the    best 
methods  of  conserving  these  national  ideals    is 
timely,  and  the  authors  presented  in  this  volume 
are  exceptionally  well  qualified  to  treat  their  re- 
5 

376879 


6          From  the  Editorial  Committee 

spective  topics.  The  subjects  considered  will 
bear  much  study  from  books  which  treat  the 
topic  more  expansively,  and  to  aid  in  such  re 
search  a  leader's  supplement  has  been  prepared, 
containing  a  bibliography  and  suggestive  ques 
tions  and  outlines  of  the  chapters  here  presented. 
With  the  sincere  hope  that  this  latest  book, 
"  Conservation  of  National  Ideals,"  may  be 
blessed  as  an  instrument  for  the  preservation  of 
our  American  standards  of  equality  of  right;, 
freedom  of  conscience  and  purity  of  religion,  the 
Council  of  Women  for  Home  Missions  sends  t 
forth  upon  its  mission. 


CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION .11 

Mrs.  Margaret  E.  Sangster 

I 

A  CONSERVING  FORCE        .        .        .        .15 
Mrs.  D.  B.  Wells 

II 

WHAT  TO  Do  FOR  THE  IMMIGRANT      .        .      47 
Prof.  Edward  A.  Steiner 

III 

THE  PROBLEM  OF  RACE      .         .        .        .71 
Ray  Stannard  Baker 

IV 

THE  CHURCH  AND  SOCIAL  QUESTIONS          .      99 
Prof.  Walter  C.  Rauschenbusch 

V 

NON- CHRISTIAN  FAITHS  IN  AMERICA  .         .123 
Elizabeth  B.  Vermilye 

VI 

CHRISTIAN  CONSERVATION  .         .        .        .163 
Rev.  Charles  L.  Thompson,  D.  D. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Sheldon  Jackson  Industrial  School,  Sitka, 

Alaska  ......       Frontispiece 

Missionary  Training  School,  Indianapolis,  Ind.       .        20 
Missionary  Training  School,  Chicago,  111.     .          .        34 

Sibley  Hospital   and   Lucy  Webb   Hayes  National 

Training  School,  Washington,  D.  C.    .          .        42 

Citizens  of  To-morrow      .....        56 

Labor  Temple  Bulletin       .....       62 

Part  of  the  Problem  ......        74 

What  Shall  We  Do  With  Them  ?  .          .88 

Only  One  Corner     .          .          .          .          .          .114 

BabaBharati;   Buddhist  Temple  .          .          .150 

Hindu  (Vedantic)  Temple,  San  Francisco     .          .      161 
The  Pilgrims  Going  to  Church  .          .         .          .168 


Introduction 

IN    the  length  and  breadth  of  the  Christian 
church  there  is  not  a  communicant  to  whom 
the  subject  of  Home  Missions  should  not 
make  a  personal  appeal.     Indeed,  one  may  go  a 
step  farther,  and  declare  that  there  is  not  a  reg 
ular  attendant  at  church  or  a  patriotic  member 
of  society  who  can  afford  to  be  indifferent  to  an 
enterprise  so  vital  and  a  cause  so  important. 

The  ends  of  the  earth  have  come  to  America. 
The  tides  of  immigration  have  flooded  our  shores, 
bringing  to  us  annually  disheartened  people  of 
Northern  and  Southern  Europe,  of  Asia  and  of 
the  islands  of  the  sea.  Our  own  territorial 
progress  has  made  us  responsible  in  recent  years 
for  large  foreign  populations  that  are  now  shel 
tered  under  our  flag  and  are  rapidly  becoming 
assimilated  in  one  mass  in  our  body  politic,  and 
there  is  to-day  in  our  vast  America  neither  bond 
nor  free.  Our  own  sons  and  daughters  every 
where  meet  and  mingle  with  the  sons  and  daugh 
ters  of  other  lands.  Foreign-born  children  and 
American-born  children  of  foreigners,  not  yet 
able  to  speak  English,  every  day  salute  the  flag 
in  our  public  schools. 

Wherever  in  this  land  there  is  a  little  mission 
ii 


12  Introduction 

church,  a  parsonage,  a  devoted  home  missionary 
daily  enduring  hardship  for  the  sake  of  Jesus 
Christ,  wherever  in  mining  camp,  mountain  set 
tlement,  or  mission  school  there  is  a  teacher 
or  a  preacher  toiling  bravely  and  fearlessly  for 
the  uplifting  of  the  poor,  for  the  conversion  of 
men  and  for  Christian  brotherhood,  there  is 
scope  for  the  generous  support  of  the  church, 
and  need  for  the  sympathetic  cooperation  of 
women. 

The  women  of  the  Christian  church  in  Amer 
ica  are  called  upon  at  this  hour  for  that  which 
concerns  far  more  than  they  dream,  the  perma 
nence  of  the  republic,  the  well-being  of  their 
children  and  the  continuance  among  us  of  the 
American  Sabbath,  now  threatened  as  never  be 
fore.  The  women  of  the  country  at  large  must 
be  fully  informed  as  to  the  present  situation,  the 
present  opportunity,  and  the  present  responsi 
bility.  They  must  create  a  sentiment  over 
whelming  and  general  in  favour  of  keeping  this 
nation  true  to  the  principles  of  its  pioneers  and 
loyal  to  God. 

The  chapters  which  compose  this  book  have 
been  prepared  by  experts,  and  show  in  condensed 
form  and  striking  expression  the  perils  which 
menace  us  at  this  time.  The  only  remedy  for 
what  must  prove  a  subtle  poison,  the  only 
safeguard  against  Mormonism,  Hinduism,  idol 
worship  and  infidelity,  is  the  Gospel. 


Introduction  13 

Let  our  women  be  convinced  that  it  is  their 
privilege  and  duty  to  send  the  light  of  the  Gospel 
into  every  dark  place  and  they  will  not  be  slow 
in  assuming  the  leadership  which  is  the  peculiar 
prerogative  of  wives,  mothers  and  sisters  in 
Christian  homes.  If  they  are  teachers  in  the 
Sunday-school  they  will  take  pains  to  interest 
children  and  young  people  in  advancing  the 
cause  of  Home  Missions.  Unless  the  boys  and 
girls  who  are  growing  up,  under  training  in 
schools  and  colleges,  shall  be  thoroughly  taught 
in  reference  to  missions,  we  shall  soon  reach  a 
place  where  Apollyon  will  rally  his  forces  against 
religion,  and  this  great  country,  with  its  mighty 
possibilities,  will  cease  to  be  definitely  and  posi 
tively  Christian.  Materialism  even  now  menaces 
spirituality  at  every  step. 

In  the  pages  of  this  book  the  baffling  prob 
lems  of  alien  races  and  opposing  creeds  are  lucidly 
discussed.  The  aggressiveness  of  the  Mormon 
hierarchy  is  strongly  displayed,  and  the  relations 
between  labour  and  capital  are  intelligently  con 
sidered.  The  chapter  on  immigration  sets  before 
the  student  in  bright  and  hopeful  style  the  ad 
vantages  which  must  come  to  us  from  the  brave 
and  forceful  toilers  who  have  seen  a  star  in  the 
West  and  sought  it  over  land  and  sea. 

The  book  will  repay  thoughtful  reading  and 
earnest  study  in  missionary  associations,  in 
women's  clubs,  in  the  church  and  at  home. 


14  Introduction 

Whatever  else  we  may  neglect,  whatever  else  we 
may  foster,  we  must  sustain  our  missions  here  at 
home,  lest  we  fail  in  the  duty  we  owe  to  Christ 
and  our  country. 


Jfa  aJLfs> 


~~  Z.  , 


A  CONSERVING  FORCE 
Mrs.  D.  B.  Wells 


The  glow  of  life  around  us, 

The  star  of  Hope  before, 
In  sisterhood  of  service 

We  count  our  mercies  o'er. 
One  thought,  the  love  of  Jesus, 

One  consecrated  aim, 
We  light  a  torch  in  darkness, 

And  toil  in  His  dear  Name. 

No  lines  of  caste  divide  us, 

No  choice  of  East  or  West, 
We  leave  the  place  of  labour 

To  Him  who  knoweth  best. 
In  little  self-denials, 

In  prayer  on  bended  knee, 
In  word  and  work  we  answer 

The  Master's  "  Follow  Me." 

O  Master,  give  Thy  blessing, 

And  guide  us  as  we  try 
In  sisterhood  of  service 

To  lift  Thy  banner  high. 
Let  not  Thy  kingdom  tarry. 

Nor  let  it  suffer  loss, 
Speed  on  the  day  of  glory, 

The  Conquest  of  the  Cross  ! 

. — MARGARET  E.  SANGSTER, 


A  CONSERVING  FORCE 

IN  the  heart  of  every  Christian  woman  ideals 
have  always  found  a  welcome  and  a  home. 
The  character  of  her  ideals  has  depended 
upon  the  time  and  the  place  in  which  she  was 
living.  In  the  earlier  days  their  scope  never  ex 
tended  beyond  the  bounds  of  her  own  indi 
viduality  and  her  own  home.  Heredity  and  en 
vironment  limited  expansion.  The  life-lines  lay 
along  two  directions  only :  to  be  in  the  secret 
places  of  her  own  soul  what  she  understood  her 
Saviour  asked  and  permitted  her  as  a  woman  to 
become ;  and  to  be  in  her  home  an  obedient  and 
affectionate  daughter,  a  helpful  and  dutiful  wife, 
a  wise  and  devoted  mother.  These  ideals  our 
Puritan  foremothers  brought  with  them  as  they 
came  to  New  England  in  the  early  days.  With 
out  doubt  they  formed  as  valuable  and  potent  a 
part  of  the  treasures  of  the  good  ship,  the  May 
flower,  as  did  the  aspirations  and  purposes  of  our 
forefathers  with  whom  they  sailed. 

As  the  years  slipped  rapidly  by,  and  the  limits 
of  our  foremother's  territorial  environment  were 
enlarged,  while  clinging  just  as  closely  to  her 
ideas  of  personal  and  home  responsibility,  she 


18       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

began  to  include  within  the  reach  of  that  respon 
sibility  her  neighbour  and  her  neighbour's  child ; 
and  to  find  a  direct  and  immediate  application  of 
that  law  of  the  kingdom, — "  Look  not  ever/ 
man  on  his  own  things,  but  every  man  also  o  i 
the  things  of  others."  And  so  the  Sunday- 
school  and  the  day-school  of  her  own  locality 
became  the  objects  of  her  continuous  interest  and 
fostering  care.  As  the  means  of  intercommuni 
cation  and  transportation  multiplied,  and  the 
newer  and  more  remote  parts  of  the  country- 
were  brought  into  closer  touch  with  the  older 
East,  she  soon  learned  of  the  needs  of  the  frontier 
for  religious  instruction.  She  saw  the  oppor 
tunity  to  help  in  the  development  of  an  intell  - 
gent  Christian  nation,  and  gladly  put  all  the 
power  of  her  splendid  energy  and  enthusiasm 
into  this  enlarged  service. 

Soon  were  included  within  the  scope  of  this 
service  the  "  exceptional  classes  "  in  our  growing 
nation  ;  the  American  Indian,  the  Negro,  the 
Alaskan,  the  mountaineer,  the  Mexican,  the  im 
migrant.  To-day  the  Home  Mission  woman 
knows  that  she  must  also  "  serve "  the  Cuban, 
the  Porto  Rican,  the  Filipino,  and  the  Hawaiian. 
A  vicious  attack  upon  the  sanctity  of  her  home 
and  upon  the  integrity  of  the  nation  through  the 
rise  and  growth  of  Mormonism  added  a  fourth 
to  her  group  of  American  ideals,  those  of  the 
Home,  the  Church,  the  School,  and  the  State. 


A  Conserving  Force  19 

The  underlying  foundation  of  all  woman's 
work  in  Home  Missions  has  been  her  profound, 
ineradicable  conviction  that  ignorance  is  the 
fruitful  mother  of  degradation ;  and  that  no  na 
tion  whose  God  is  not  the  Lord  can  long  survive 
or  serve  the  highest  needs  of  the  world.  This 
conviction  is  hers  by  heredity ;  her  mothers  be 
lieved  it  back  in  the  days  of  John  Robinson, 
Thomas  Brewster,  Roger  Williams  and  William 
Penn.  It  is  hers  by  right  of  personal  experience, 
clear  vision,  common  sense  and  intuitive  percep 
tion.  It  is  hers  by  right  of  study  of  the  past  and 
present  of  other  nations.  It  is  hers  by  right  of 
promise  for  the  future :  "  All  thy  children  shall 
be  taught  of  the  Lord ;  and  great  shall  be  the 
peace  of  thy  children.  In  righteousness  shalt 
thou  be  established."  And  the  hosts  of  Christian 
women  in  this  new  land  have  united  to  declare, 
"  Our  land  shall  become  the  home  of  intelligence 
and  righteousness  ! " 

As  their  share  of  this  great  enterprise,  Home 
Mission  women  have  contributed  three  potent 
forces  ;  self-sacrifice,  organization,  accumulation, 
nor  have  they  stinted  the  measure  of  their  gifts. 
The  story  of  their  self-sacrificing  devotion  may 
not  correspond  in  every  particular  with  that  of 
Paul's.  Yet  it  has  truly  been  "  in  labours  more 
abundant,  in  journeyings  often,  in  perils  of 
waters,  in  perils  of  robbers,  in  perils  in  the  city, 
in  perils  in  the  wilderness,  in  weariness  and  pain- 


2O       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

fulness,  in  watchings  often,  in  hunger  and  thirst, 
in  fastings  often."  To  which  might  be  added, 
misunderstanding,  opposition,  ridicule,  con 
tumely,  ostracism,  conditions  the  workers  for 
and  among  the  Mormons  and  the  Negroes  often 
have  had  to  endure. 

For  the  women  at  the  "  home  base,"  the  busy 
wives  and  mothers,  it  was  often  no  slight  under 
taking  to  put  aside  the  exacting  duties  of  hon  e 
and  to  give  time  and  effort  and  strength  in  order 
to  extend  the  knowledge  of  the  importance,  the 
progress,  the  needs  of  this  work.  Yet  it  was  ell 
done  "  heartily  (the  Greek  word  says  "  hilari 
ously  "  )  as  unto  the  Lord." 

These  women  soon  saw  the  need  and  advan 
tages  of  cooperation  in  this  work,  and  so  put  the 
power  of  their  executive  ability  into  definite  or 
ganizations.  Sometimes  these  preceded,  some 
times  they  followed,  sometimes  they  were  coin 
cident  with  similar  organizations  for  work  in  for 
eign  lands, — sisters  equipped  for  valiant  service 
in  the  kingdom.  And  progress  in  the  coming 
of  that  kingdom  is  made  by  the  uncrippled  use 
of  both  feet.  The  story  of  these  organizations, 
so  thorough,  so  complete,  so  rich  in  voluntary 
service,  is  best  told  in  connection  with  the  record 
of  each  denomination. 

The  treasurer  of  a  large  Woman's  Board  found 
one  year  to  her  surprise  that  three-fifths  of  its 
income  for  that  year  had  come  in  sums  of  less 


A  Conserving  Force  21 

than  ten  dollars  as  an  annual  contribution. 
Women  long  ago  learned  that  ten  dimes  make  a 
dollar :  and  that  twenty-five  women  giving  a 
dollar  each  invest  their  gift  with  a  power  far  ex 
ceeding  the  twenty-five  dollar  gift  of  one  woman. 
Emerson  is  credited  with  saying,  "  An  engine  of 
forty-cat  power  running  all  the  time  will  accom 
plish  more  than  one  of  ten-horse  power  running 
only  occasionally."  "  Many  women  all  the  time 
at  it "  has  been  the  secret  of  the  marvellous 
growth  of  their  Home  Missionary  organizations. 
Yet  let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  in  these  days  of 
prosperity,  dollars  should,  and  easily  could,  be 
substituted  for  dimes. 

The  need  which  first  appealed  to  Home  Mis 
sion  women  was  that  of  helping  the  feeble 
churches  in  their  own  vicinity  and  in  a  gradually 
enlarging  area.  Then  they  undertook  to  supply 
the  support  of  gospel  ministration  in  destitute 
communities,  to  open  Sunday-schools,  and  to 
furnish  religious  reading  matter.  These  seemed 
the  sensible  and  proper  things  for  women  to 
do,  under  the  guidance  and  through  the  ad 
ministration  of  their  funds  by  the  Ministerial 
Associations.  The  growth  of  the  explored  and 
known  territory  ;  the  frequent  "  moving  West  " 
of  some  neighbour;  the  development  of  the 
great  Northwest ;  these  all  constituted  a  potent 
appeal  to  the  interest  and  sympathies  of  the 
Christian  women  "  back  East."  Churches  must 


22       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

be  built,  Sunday-schools  maintained,  schools 
started  throughout  that  vast  and  needy  territory. 
It  was  a  strategic  time  in  the  history  of  the  nation. 
God's  people  felt  the  pressure  of  the  imperative 
demand  to  make  and  to  keep  it  God's  country. 

Up  to  the  period  of  the  Civil  War,  Home 
Missionary  women  concerned  themselves  chiefly 
with  these  pressing  and  wide-spread  needs.  But 
with  the  close  of  the  war  came  the  realization 
of  a  new  demand;  the  need  of  the  Americar 
Negro,  which  in  its  magnitude  and  immediate 
urgency  seemed  at  first  almost  appalling.  How 
could  seven  millions  of  people  be  lifted  out  o: 
ignorance,  poverty,  semi-heathenism  into  thrift, 
intelligence,  Christian  citizenship  ;  from  "  dark- 
ness  to  light,"  the  marvellous  light  of  the  Gospel 
of  His  dear  Son  ?  But  when  did  Christian 
women  ever  falter  before  the  greatness  of  the 
difficulty  of  a  task  which  they  believed  to  be 
God-imposed  ?  Has  it  not  always  been  a  bugle 
call  to  stirring  activity  ? 

At  the  summons  of  the  United  States  govern 
ment,  and  of  the  Home  Mission  Boards,  the 
women  at  once  assumed  the  care  and  develop 
ment  of  this  great  work,  in  conjunction  with  the 
various  church  boards.  Schools  were  estab 
lished — day  and  boarding,  industrial,  normal, 
and  collegiate — as  the  opportunity  for  usefulness 
in  each  line  appeared.  In  the  beginning  of  this 
work  the  teachers  encountered  hardships  and 


A  Conserving  Force  23 

opposition  due  to  misunderstanding  of  their  pur 
pose  and  position  on  the  part  of  both  black  and 
white.  But  they  held  on  their  resolute  way,  and 
laid  lasting  foundations. 

A  large  work  in  teaching  home-making  was 
needed.  Homes  must  be  visited ;  women  must 
be  trained  to  sew,  to  cook,  to  economize,  to 
nurse  and  train  their  children,  to  become  thrifty 
wives  and  housekeepers.  Young  people  must 
be  helped  to  understand  that  prosperity  does  not 
happen,  but  is  the  result  of  hard  work,  good 
sense,  and  righteousness.  A  teaching  force 
among  their  own  people  must  be  developed,  who 
could  become  the  leaders  of  their  own  race  ;  not 
only  educated,  but  sane,  sweet-spirited  and 
courageous  leaders.  The  bitterness  of  the  past 
must  be  helped  to  vanish  before  the  hope  for  the 
future.  All  must  be  led  to  understand  that  free 
dom  and  citizenship  means  not  license  but 
liberty,  not  laziness  but  labour,  not  ignorance 
but  intelligence,  not  unearned  privilege  but 
hard-earned  power;  and,  above  all,  an  ignorant, 
emotional,  irresponsible,  one-day-in-the-week  re 
ligion  must  be  changed  into  the  sweet,  practical, 
every-day  righteousness  of  Christianity.  No 
wonder  there  were  many, — there  are  some  even 
to-day — who  said  ;  "  Who  is  sufficient  for  this  ?  " 
The  women  said  :  "  We  are  not,  but  God  is," 
and  entered  upon  the  task  in  full  assurance  of 
faith,  a  faith  which  results  have  fully  justified. 


24       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

Churches  have  been  built,  great  schools  are 
maintained :  girls  are  trained  to  self-support : 
homes  are  uplifted :  and  Jesus  Christ  is  becoming 
the  actual  Saviour  of  eleven  millions  of  souls 
To  a  group  of  negro  school  children  Genera) 
Howard  said :  "  What  message  shall  I  take 
North?"  "Tell  'em  we're  a-risin',"  was  the 
reply. 

Quaintly  was  the  present  condition  stated  by 
one  of  their  own  educators  :  "  We  ain't  what 
we  oughter  be:  we  ain't  what  we're  goin'  to- 
be  :  but  we  ain't  what  we  was ! "  Home 
Mission  women  have  had  a  large  share  in  these 
results. 

About  this  time  another  work  claimed  atten 
tion.  Mormonism  had  sprung  up,  grown,  and 
entrenched  itself  within  the  nation  so  quickly 
and  so  insidiously  that  it  was  full-grown  before 
its  existence  was  recognized.  While  antagonistic 
to  the  government  of  the  United  States,  to  the 
Home  Missionary  women  its  chief  menace  lay  in 
its  degradation  of  the  home,  and  its  blasphemous 
falsification  of  the  teachings  of  Christ.  Not  to 
attack  such  an  enemy  would  be  to  esteem  the 
sanctity  of  their  own  married  lives  a  thing  of 
little  value,  and  to  be  disloyal  to  their  own 
Christ. 

The  church  rallied  to  the  crisis ;  but  to  the 
dismay  of  the  workers  it  was  found  that  no  wel 
come  awaited  them.  Men  and  women,  adher- 


A  Conserving  Force  25 

ents  of  the  Mormon  church,  were  staunch  in 
that  adherence ;  women  especially  so  with  that 
fanaticism  whereof  martyrs  are  made.  But  if 
the  adults  could  not  easily  be  reached,  then  siege 
must  be  laid  to  the  minds  and  consciences  of  the 
children  and  young  people.  It  had  to  be  done 
very  tactfully,  and  very  unweariedly ;  it  was,  in 
deed,  a  siege.  The  church  asked  for  teachers : 
the  Home  Mission  women  sent  them :  the  schools 
were  opened  ;  but  where  were  the  pupils  ?  The 
teacher  must  live :  she  sometimes  found  that  no 
one  would  sell  her  food  and  drink.  She  lived 
alone,  stones  rattled  against  her  windows  ;  rifle 
shots  in  close  proximity  made  her  draw  the  bed 
ding  up  over  her  ears,  and  shiver  with  anxiety 
through  the  long  night.  She  might  have  ap 
pealed  for  protection ;  but  that  would  have  been 
to  show  the  white  feather  and  thereby  destroy 
all  future  access  to  the  people.  She  kept  on  her 
lonely  way,  determined  to  win. 

Consecrated  pluck  generally  wins.  Hers  did. 
One  day  a  child  looked  shyly  through  the  open 
door  into  the  room  where  sat  the  teacher,  who 
smiled  and  sang  and  laughed  and  beckoned  :  who 
angled  for  that  one  small  child  as  warily  and  as 
long  as  does  the  sportsman  who  plays  his  re 
luctant  salmon  for  many  a  long  hour.  The 
sportsman  thinks  it  great  fun ;  perhaps  the 
teacher  did,  too  ;  for  each  child  won  meant  that 
others  would  follow. 


26       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

But  it  was  a  long,  hard  pull.  The  time  came, 
though,  when  strong  young  men  and  gracious 
young  women  were  won  for  Christ  and  His  serv 
ice.  Their  gratitude  for  the  reclamation  of  their 
lives  from  error  was  profound  and  enduring. 
Schools  have  multiplied,  with  daily  Bible  instruc 
tion  in  each.  Academies  and  colleges  are  rising; 
in  response  to  demand.  Nor  were  the  Home 
Missionary  women  concerned  with  the  far  end 
of  the  work  only.  By  diligent  and  effective  work 
in  Washington  they  helped  to  procure  the  dis 
crediting  and  unseating  of  a  Mormon  congress 
man,  and  his  return  to  his  constituency  without: 
honour  or  profit. 

The  Highlanders  of  the  South,  of  sturdy 
Scotch-Irish  descent,  hidden  away  among  their 
mountain  ranges,  were  left  unnoted  for  years, 
until  a  prominent  American  writer  began  to  lo 
cate  her  stories  among  their  homes,  and  scenery- 
loving  tourists  discovered  their  ignorance  and 
poverty.  The  Home  Mission  teacher  soon  saw 
their  worth  of  character  and  keen  intellects  if 
only  opportunity  for  education  were  afforded, 
and  saw,  too,  in  spite  of  surface  evil,  an  inbred 
receptivity  for  spiritual  truth.  The  young  men 
and  women,  hungry  for  an  education,  proved  of 
sturdy  stuff,  willing  to  endure  hardships  and  to 
put  forth  every  possible  effort  of  their  own  to 
gain  the  coveted  opportunity.  Generous  and 
worthy  results  have  followed  the  work  done  in 


A  Conserving  Force  27 

these  schools  tucked  away  in  mountain  and 
valley. 

Following  the  trail  of  need  and  opportunity 
the  Home  Mission  woman  looked  from  the  south 
land  to  the  far  distant  north,  and  her  vision 
rested  on  the  fur-clad  Alaskan  in  his  snowy 
home.  At  a  distance  he  might  be  a  picturesque 
object :  but  at  close  range  grease  and  filth  and 
seeming  stolidity  rendered  him  extremely  unat 
tractive.  But  the  heart  of  woman  has  always 
yearned  over  the  needy ;  and  a  woman  said, 
"  There  is  a  soul  under  this  repulsive  exterior. 
Let  us  find  it  and  win  it  for  Christ." 

The  American  trader  had  carried  into  the  land 
liquor  and  vice  and  crime,  teaching  the  Alaskan 
only  evil.  The  American  Home  Mission  woman 
carried  in  the  schoolhouse,  the  hospital,  the 
gospel  of  cleanliness,  purity,  knowledge,  sobriety, 
honesty,  salvation.  The  Alaskan  was  wise  enough 
to  understand  which  brought  the  better  gift,  and  to 
respond  to  the  endeavour  for  his  betterment  and 
education.  Slowly,  it  is  true  ;  but  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  has  never  moved  forward  anywhere 
with  rapidity.  The  real  making  of  a  nation,  of 
a  community,  of  a  soul,  takes  time.  God  makes 
haste  slowly ;  but  His  work  never  needs  to  be 
undone. 

Meanwhile,  and  with  ever  increasing  volume, 
flowed  into  this  land  of  liberty  and  promise  the 
tide  of  those  who  came  because  of  their  poverty, 


28       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

their  oppression,  their  ignorance ;  those  to  whom, 
in  some  vague  and  undefined  way,  America  stood 
for  the  land  of  milk  and  honey  for  every  one. 
As  the  Home  Mission  woman  stood  at  the  gate 
way  of  the  nation  and  watched  them  pouring 
through  that  portal,  thousands  daily — as  she 
noted  their  poverty,  their  confusion,  their  igno 
rance  of  American  speech  and  American  ways, 
their  pathetic  faith  in  America  as  the  panacea 
for  all  ills — perhaps  for  the  first  time  she  was 
"  frighted  "  of  the  task  to  be  accomplished  ;  and 
just  at  first  she  called  this  great  and  mighty  com 
pany  a  menace. 

Some  have  called  them  a  problem  :  but  are  not 
problems  given  us  to  be  solved  ?  So,  instead  of 
a  menace,  the  Home  Mission  women  began  to 
think  of  them  as  a  national  asset  of  great  and 
undeveloped  value,  brought  here  under  the  guid 
ing  Providence  of  our  God  that  we  might  make 
come  true  for  them  and  for  their  children  the 
promise  of  knowledge  and  prosperity ;  only  it 
must  be  of  that  divine  kind  which  deals  in  values, 
not  of  dollars  and  cents,  but  of  character  and 
growth  and  service. 

No  longer  afraid  of  the  vastness  and  complex 
ity  of  this  problem,  the  women  have  planned  and 
prayed  and  worked  in  school,  chapel,  home,  by 
reading-rooms,  mothers'  meetings,  protection  and 
loan  societies,  shelters  and  lodging-houses,  and 
in  the  numberless  ways  which  a  woman's  heart 


A  Conserving  Force  29 

and  brain  could  devise.  Perhaps  one  of  the 
most  effective  and  most  welcome  has  been  the 
presence  at  ports  of  entry  of  women  who  can 
speak  the  various  languages,  thus  giving  to  the 
frightened  foreigner  in  his  own  beloved  tongue  a 
greeting  to  this  strange  land.  Nor  is  it  a  greet 
ing  only ;  it  is  also  guidance  through  the  per 
plexities  of  official  examination  and  the  details  of 
entrance  into  the  arms  of  waiting  friends  or  to 
proper  railway  stations ;  and  it  is  comfort  and 
explanation  to  those  who  are  refused  admittance, 
and  must  return  to  that  home-land  which  has 
nothing  to  offer  to  such  returning  children. 

Is  there  any  limit  to  the  extent  and  variety  of 
ministration  which  may  be  comprehended  within 
the  scope  of  Home  Missions  !  We  now  number 
over  one  hundred  millions  of  people.  We  are 
told  our  country  can  easily  provide  a  comfortable 
home  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  millions.  Looked 
at  from  the  standpoint  of  human  strength  and 
ability,  it  presents  almost  a  heart-breaking  aspect; 
so  much  of  sin,  so  much  of  suffering,  greed,  self 
ishness,  oppression,  all  apparently  increasing  at  a 
tremendous  rate.  Can  humanity  ever  overtake  the 
need,  and  begin  to  diminish  it  ?  No,  and  Chris 
tian  humanity  does  not  expect  to.  But  God  can : 
and  His  servants  see  in  all  this  struggling,  suffer 
ing,  sinning  mass  of  their  fellows  a  great  com 
pany  of  those  to  whom  they  can  minister  in  His 
name  and  by  His  power  with  the  certainty  that 


30       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

in  due  time  the  problem  shall  be  solved.  Mean 
while  we  are  concerned  only  that  every  American 
Christian  woman  shall  recognize  and  embrace  her 
opportunity  for  service. 

No  enterprise  springs  immediately  into  fur 
maturity  and  power.  Every  woman,  waiting  for 
the  pot  to  boil — the  kitchen  is  a  wonderful  lab 
oratory  of  spiritual  truth — knows  that  the  in 
creasing  heat  manifests  itself  in  a  bubble  at  a 
time,  one  here,  one  there,  till  by  and  by  there 
are  so  many  that  they  all  run  together  into  one 
big  bubble — and  the  pot  boils. 

There  were  single  local  societies  engaged  in 
various  forms  of  Home  Mission  work  long  before 
the  larger  and  more  formal  organizations  took 
place.  Home  Mission  societies  were  formed  in 
Connecticut  in  1778;  in  Massachusetts  in  1779; 
in  New  Hampshire  in  1804  ;  in  Maine  and  Ver 
mont  in  1807.  Some  most  interesting  facts  are 
gleaned  from  the  Centennial  Report,  in  1904,  of 
the  "  New  Hampshire  Female  Cent  Institution 
and  Home  Mission  Union."  These  facts  are 
doubtless  similar  to  those  in  the  history  of  other 
societies  of  those  days ;  they  are  both  delight 
ful  and  stimulating.  The  society's  rather  cum 
bersome  title  has  in  the  course  of  years  been 
abbreviated  to  "  The  Cent  Union,"  retaining 
the  flavour  of  the  old  and  the  enterprise  of  the 
new.  It  was  formed  when  stage-coaches  were 
few,  railroads  not  dreamed  of,  letter  postage 


A  Conserving  Force  31 

was  from  ten  to  sixty  cents  according  to  the 
distance  the  letter  was  carried,  with  post-offices 
in  but  thirty-five  of  the  two  hundred  and  thir 
teen  towns  in  New  Hampshire.  The  great 
West  was  practically  unknown.  The  women  of 
Massachusetts  spoke  of  Maine,  New  Hampshire 
and  Vermont  as  "  the  remote  parts  of  our 
country,"  while  the  New  Hampshire  women, 
bravely  caring  for  their  own,  undertook  also  to 
minister  to  "  the  uttermost  parts  of  New  York, 
Pennsylvania  and  Ohio." 

The  brethren  of  the  State  Home  Mission 
Society  spoke  of  "  their  female  friends  in  Zion," 
and  commended  their  work  in  the  quaint  phra 
seology  of  the  day  :  "  Though  in  such  a  sacred 
enterprise  we  would  not  make  an  appeal  to 
vanity,  yet  for  the  encouragement  of  our  female 
friends  we  would  say  that  in  no  state  of  our 
country  has  there  probably  been  so  much  con 
tributed  by  females  for  the  propagation  of  the 
Gospel,  according  to  their  numbers  and  their 
means,  as  by  the  females  of  New  Hampshire/' 
During  a  hundred  years  of  service  they  had  but 
four  treasurers.  How  incredible  in  these  days 
of  elaborate  organization  seems  the  statement 
that  for  eighty-four  years  this  treasurer  was  their 
only  officer.  In  the  first  year  the  offering  was 
five  dollars.  The  total  for  the  hundred  years 
was  nearly  two  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

In  the  report  for  1818  is  found  the  record  of 


32       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

Lavinia  Kelly,  "  one  cent  a  week  from  her  birth, 
sixteen  cents."  Lavinia  is  certainly  the  pioneer 
member  of  the  Cradle  Roll.  We  also  find  tlvi 
record  of  one  member  who  lived  to  the  age  of  ;i 
hundred  and  two  years  and  six  months,  who 
"  could  not  remember  when  she  was  not  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Cent  Society."  When  in  1823  a 
legacy  of  a  hundred  dollars  was  received,  its 
record  is  followed  by  this  significant  note : 
"  Other  affluent  females,  it  is  hoped,  will  imitate 
this  worthy  example." 

What  did  they  find  to  do  ?  Formed  to  assi<  t 
the  overburdened  and  discouraged  ministers  in 
their  work  among  the  destitute  communities, 
they  supplied  the  funds  for  the  support  of  minis 
ters,  established  reading  circles,  procured,  ac 
cording  to  the  report  of  1814,  "three  hundred 
Bibles,  one  hundred  and  twenty  Watts'  and  Se 
lect  hymn-books,  thirty-one  Scott's '  Essays,'  forty- 
five  Scott's  '  Force  of  Truth,'  one  thousand  relig 
ious  tracts,  for  distribution  in  new  settlements." 
Be  sure  whatever  they  did  was  well  done. 

The  first  denomination  to  form  a  National 
Woman's  Board  of  Missions  was  the  Christian, 
whose  organization  occurred  in  1874.  Its  object 
was  threefold :  missionary  education  and  inspira 
tion,  missionary  giving,  and  world-wide  mis 
sionary  work.  It  is  a  large  and  influential 
Board  whose  gifts  for  the  thirty-five  years  of  its 
existence  have  aggregated  more  than  two  and  a 


A  Conserving  Force  33 

quarter  millions  of  dollars.  It  has  a  finely 
equipped  Missionary  Training-School,  housed  in 
a  beautiful  building,  and  preparing  its  workers 
for  service.  Its  state  organization  is  well  de 
veloped,  having  field  workers  in  nearly  every 
state,  with  a  membership  of  over  seventy-five 
thousand  women.  It  carries  on  a  large  evangel 
istic  work  in  thirty-five  states ;  supports  a  Bible 
chair  in  four  large  universities  and  one  large  Nor 
mal  School ;  maintains  mountain  schools  in  the 
South  ;  many  schools  for  the  Negro,  and  missions 
for  the  Chinese  and  Japanese  in  California,  which 
include  both  educational  and  hospital  work.  All 
of  this  work  is  in  a  healthy  and  prosperous 
condition  and  its  rapidly  growing  demands  are 
met  by  splendid  increase  in  gifts  and  interest 
from  the  constituency.  A  definite,  practical 
plan  for  a  large  advance  along  the  lines  of  work 
has  been  matured,  and  is  being  laid  before  all  its 
auxiliaries. 

Next  into  the  field  came  the  powerful  Woman's 
Baptist  Home  Missionary  Society,  organized  in 
the  Central  West  in  1877,  quickly  followed  in 
the  same  year  by  the  organization  of  the  Wom 
an's  American  Baptist  Home  Mission  Society, 
with  headquarters  in  Boston :  the  two  societies 
working  side  by  side  in  entire  harmony,  the 
province  and  territory  of  each  society  being 
clearly  defined.  The  time  came  when  in  the 
judgment  of  all  a  consolidation  seemed  wise,  and 


34       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

in  1909  this  union  was  effected  under  the  title  of 
the  Eastern  Society,  with  headquarters  in  Chi 
cago. 

This  Board  had  its  nucleus  in  the  Woman's 
Baptist  Home  Missionary  Society  of  Michigan, 
organized  in  1873,  one  of  the  earliest  of  such 
state  organizations,  and  was  in  response  to  the 
pathetic  appeal  of  one  of  its  veteran  worker* 
who  had  wrought  alone  and  unrecognized  for 
many  years ;  "  I  have  looked  and  looked  for  help 
until  my  eyes  are  dim,  and  called  until  my  voice 
is  weary."  The  response  has  been  generous  and 
fruitful,  although,  as  one  says,  "  It  is  difficult  to 
keep  within  seeing  distance  of  the  needs." 

That  an  adequate  and  trained  force  of  workers 
may  be  made  ready  for  the  work's  large  de 
mands,  this  society  early  established  its  own 
Missionary  Training-School.  The  Board  main 
tains  evangelistic  and  educational  work  among 
the  Negroes,  the  immigrant  classes,  Indians, 
Chinese  and  Japanese,  the  mountaineers,  the 
Alaskans,  the  Mexicans,  the  Cubans,  and  Porto 
Ricans.  A  specially  unique  work  has  been  that 
of  the  Fireside  School,  begun  and  developed  by 
Miss  Joanna  P.  Moore,  among  the  Negroes.  By 
this,  parents  are  pledged  to  daily  Bible  reading 
and  prayer  with  their  children,  studying  the 
simple  lessons  outlined  for  them  by  Miss  Moore 
in  her  little  paper,  Hope. 

Presbyterian    women   found   organization    for 


A  Conserving  Force  35 

Home  Mission  work  a  foreordained  matter,  and 
were  not  disobedient  unto  the  heavenly  vision. 
Imperative  calls  from  missionaries  at  work 
among  the  Indians,  Mexicans,  and  Mormons,  for 
women  to  help  the  women  and  children  among 
those  peoples  led  to  a  speedy  response.  The 
crying  need  was  for  the  support  of  mission 
teachers  to  teach  and  train  the  children,  and 
through  them  to  enter  the  homes  and  hearts  of 
the  parents.  This  educational  work  the  General 
Board  of  Home  Missions,  according  to  the  pro 
visions  of  its  charter,  could  not  undertake.  The 
formal  organization  of  the  women  was  effected  in 
1878,  national  in  its  constituency  and  territory 
of  work,  with  two  important  functions  :  to  inform 
and  direct  the  benevolences  of  its  auxiliary  so 
cieties,  and  to  initiate  and  conduct  all  the  educa 
tional  Home  Mission  work  of  the  church ;  to 
which  has  later  been  added  distinctively  evangel 
istic  work. 

The  work  has  developed  in  its  scope  until  it 
now  includes  educational  and  evangelistic  work 
among  Mormons,  Mexicans,  Indians,  moun 
taineers,  foreigners  and  immigrants  in  the  min 
ing  camps,  lumber  regions,  and  city  districts, 
Negroes,  Alaskans,  Cubans  and  Porto  Ricans. 
The  permanent  results  of  these  years  of  service 
may  be  summed  up  by  saying  that  it  has  pre 
pared  the  way  for  the  organization  of  one  hun 
dred  and  ten  churches,  that  it  has  built  over  two 


36       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

hundred  chapels  and  schoolhouses  :  that  it  has 
provided  a  Christian  education  for  an  unnum 
bered  host  of  young  people  whose  gratitude  is 
finding  expression  to-day  through  a  large  service 
of  loyalty  and  efficiency  in  aid  of  their  own 
people.  This  finds  a  striking  illustration  in  the 
maintenance  of  schools  among  the  Indians  and 
the  Mexicans  in  which  young  men  are  trained 
for  elders  and  evangelists.  Over  nine  millions 
of  dollars  have  passed  through  the  hands  of  this 
board  since  its  inception.1 

The  ever-flowing  tide  of  Lutheran  immigrants 
to  America  has  given  to  the  Lutheran  Church  ,i 
responsibility  in  Home  Mission  work  peculiar  to 
itself,  and  placed  it  under  obligation  to  furnisli 
preachers  and  churches  for  those  of  its  own 
household  of  faith.  In  this  the  women  of  the 
church  have  borne  a  generous  and  eager  part, 
working  in  a  number  of  organizations.  One  of 

1  The  Woman's  Board  of  Home  Missions  of  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church  was  organized  at  Evansville,  Indiana,  in 
1880,  with  Mrs.  R.  B.  Ruston  as  president.  It  was  organized 
jointly  for  Home  and  Foreign  missionary  work,  had  auxiliary  so 
cieties  wherever  there  were  Cumberland  Presbyterian  churches, 
and  for  twenty-seven  years  was  a  great  power  for  righteousness. 

At  the  time  of  the  union  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church  with  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of 
America,  which  was  consummated  at  the  General  Assembly  at 
Columbus,  Ohio,  in  1907,  the  support  of  the  Home  Mission 
schools  of  this  Board  was  assumed  by  the  Woman's  Board  of 
Home  Missions.  This  happy  union  has  greatly  strengthened 
all  lines  of  church  work. 


A  Conserving  Force  37 

these,  the  Woman's  Missionary  Society  of  the 
General  Synod  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  started 
in  1879  with  an  appropriation  for  a  travelling 
missionary  for  Nebraska.  Its  missions  are  now 
scattered  from  coast  to  coast,  and  include  port 
work  among  immigrants,  and  an  Italian  mission 
in  New  York  City,  the  bulk  of  its  work  being 
the  support  of  missionary  pastors,  and  the  build 
ing  of  churches  and  manses. 

The  Swedish  Augustana  Society,  belonging  to 
the  General  Council,  has  women's  missionary 
organizations  from  New  England  to  Oregon,  to 
care  for  the  Swedish  girls  who  are  becoming 
Anglicized  and  Americanized.  Homes  for  young 
women  in  Chicago  and  Minneapolis  and  deacon 
ess  mother-houses  in  Omaha  and  St.  Paul  render 
invaluable  aid  in  this  work. 

The  Norwegians  and  Danes  have  similar  in 
stitutions  in  Brooklyn  and  Chicago.  Their 
deaconesses  meet  the  immigrants  on  their  arrival 
and  greet  them  with  a  welcoming  word.  The 
women's  societies  in  the  Lutheran  General  Coun 
cil  were  the  first  Protestants  to  send  a  woman 
missionary  to  Porto  Rico  after  its  American  oc 
cupation,  and  they  have  been  doing  educational 
work  in  the  island  ever  since.  The  women  of 
the  United  Synod  South  are  doing  Home  Mission 
work  in  all  the  states  in  that  section  of  the  country. 

The  providential  call  to  the  women  of  Meth 
odism  to  work  for  the  elevation  of  home  in  the 


38       Conservation  of  National  Ideals ' 

home-land  came  first  from  the  ignorant  and 
neglected  classes  in  the  Southern  states.  Emer 
son  has  said:  "Civilization  is  simply  the  in 
fluence  of  good  women."  How  much  more  the 
making  of  a  Christian  nation  !  The  story  of  the 
preliminary  work  is  a  fascinating  one ;  a  few  de 
termined  women  snatched  victory  from  defeat  at 
the  last  moment,  and  brought  about  the  organi 
zation  of  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  So 
ciety  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the 
year  1880.  These  elect  women  had  prophetic 
vision,  eloquence,  optimism,  unbounded  enthu 
siasm,  and  sublime  faith  that  overcame  wha: 
seemed  insurmountable  difficulties.  While  the 
work  at  first  was  mainly  for  the  Negro,  they  soon 
saw  the  needs  in  the  Mormon  field,  and  hastened 
to  meet  them.  Then  came  industrial  homes  and 
schools  for  the  Indians,  Alaskans,  Mexicans, 
mountaineers,  the  Asiatic  people  in  the  United 
States  and  the  numerous  Japanese  in  the 
Hawaiian  Islands.  To  all  this  was  added  local 
work  and  city  missions,  out  of  which  grew  the 
splendid  development  of  the  deaconess  work 
with  its  training-schools.  Following  the  flag, 
work  in  Porto  Rico  was  added  to  their  already 
long  list  of  activities,  and  immigrant  work  in 
port  cities  and  foreign  centres. 

Next  in  date  of  organization,  1882,  and  in 
length  of  service,  comes  the  Women's  Board  of 
Domestic  Missions  of  the  Reformed  Church  in 


A  Conserving  Force  39 

America.  Its  first  work  was  that  which  would 
especially  appeal  to  the  hearts  of  women.  The 
General  Board  was  building  churches  and  paying 
its  missionary  pastors  such  salaries  as  its  treasury 
would  permit.  Women,  trained  to  consider  the 
minor  details  of  household  economy,  wondered 
how  a  minister  with  a  family  of  six  and  a  salary 
of  six  hundred  dollars  could  afford  to  pay  rent. 
"  Like  an  inspiration,"  says  the  record,  "  our 
work  flashed  upon  us  and  we  said,  '  We  will 
build  parsonages  for  our  missionary  pastors  and 
their  families.'  Our  first  appropriations  were  for 
two  parsonages  in  South  Dakota ;  our  next  for 
repairing  a  chapel  in  New  York.  The  work  on 
church  and  parsonage  thus  linked  together  at  the 
very  beginning  has  ever  since  been  inseparable." 
To  this  lovely  and  loving  ministry  were  added 
supplies  for  the  needs  of  missionary  families. 
Then  followed  a  hearty  response  to  the  needs  of 
the  Indians,  the  Aliens,  the  Mountain  Americans 
and  the  support  of  student  missionary  work  and 
missionary  pastors.  An  unusual  feature  of  the 
work  is  the  Paper  Mission  which  acts  as  an  in 
termediary  for  good  literature  between  the  mis 
sionaries  and  its  constituency,  having  for  its 
motto,  "  We  must  do  little  things  as  if  they  were 
great  things,  because  of  the  majesty  of  Christ 
who  does  them  through  us  ;  and  great  things  as 
if  they  were  little  things  because  of  His  almighty 
power ! " 


40       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

In  1886  the  women  of  the  Methodist  Episco 
pal  Church  South  were  called  to  specific  work  in 
the  home  field  because  of  the  need  of  homes  for 
their  preachers  in  new  and  undeveloped  sections 
of  our  country.  Woman's  fidelity  and  construct 
ive  ability  were  being  recognized  and  valued, 
yet  few  had  any  conception  of  the  possibilities 
of  such  an  organization  as  they  were  creating. 
The  opening  of  educational  centres  which  enrich 
the  personality  of  a  foreign  element  and  cf 
neglected  classes,  the  social  touch  with  aliens 
through  friendly  clubs,  the  redemption  of  the 
cities  by  the  gentle  ministry  of  cultured,  trained 
women  who,  like  their  Lord,  go  about  doin^ 
good  to  the  body,  was  foreign  to  the  idea  of 
Home  Missions,  or  salvation,  a  quarter  of  a 
century  ago.  Nothing  short  of  the  persistence 
of  the  clear  vision,  of  the  willingness  on  the  part 
of  women  to  be  laughed  at  for  attempting  such 
work,  could  ever  have  prepared  the  church  to  do 
the  work  of  social  reconstruction  which  is  rec 
ognized  as  a  part  of  her  ministry  to-day. 

But  the  women  had  the  vision  and  the  courage. 
Their  present  large  and  ably  handled  work 
demonstrates  the  wisdom  of  their  convictions. 
This  work  is  carried  forward  among  the  Negroes, 
the  mountaineers,  the  Japanese  and  Koreans  on 
the  coast,  and  the  Cubans.  There  are  Gospel 
Settlements  in  more  than  twenty  of  the  larger 
cities  and  mill  towns,  with  dispensaries,  day 


A  Conserving  Force  41 

nurseries,  night-schools,  clubs,  pure  milk  stations, 
housekeeping  and  cooking  classes,  etc.  Not 
only  is  a  large  force  of  trained  teachers  em 
ployed,  but  there  are  many  trained  city  mission 
aries  and  deaconesses.  When  this  Board  has 
realized  its  optimistic  aim  for  an  increased  mem 
bership  and  enlarged  revenue,  commensurate  with 
the  clearness  of  its  vision  as  to  responsibility, 
still  greater  things  may  be  expected  under  its 
efficient  leadership. 

The  year  1886  was  rich  in  another  organiza 
tion,  that  of  the  Women's  General  Missionary 
Society  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  of 
North  America.  As  with  another  Board, 
"  Parsonage  Work  "  constituted  the  first  press 
ing  appeal,  and  it  still  forms  a  large  part  of  the 
activities  of  this  Board,  the  women  now  having 
entire  charge  of  this  department  of  the  work  of 
the  General  Board.  They  have  helped  in  the 
building  of  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  parson 
ages  during  their  years  of  service.  Think  how 
many  grateful  wives  and  mothers  this  work  must 
have  made  !  Then  the  evangelistic  work 
among  the  Indian  tribes  in  Oregon  and  Iowa, 
all  the  Indian  work  of  the  church,  was  committed 
to  their  hands.  Evidently  they  proved  depend 
able  workmen,  for  soon  was  added  the  educa 
tional  work  among  the  mountaineers,  the  aliens 
and  the  dependent  city  classes.  Surely  these 
women  are  verifying  the  words  of  their  own 


42       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

beloved  Psalmist :  "  The  women  who  publish 
the  tidings  are  a  great  host." 

The  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Federation 
of  the  Congregational  church  came  into  being 
in  1905.  Those  first  "  Female  Cent  Unions  " 
in  the  New  England  states,  some  of  them 
over  a  hundred  years  old,  were  the  foundation 
stones  of  this  solid  structure.  Then  came  tha 
superstructure  of  the  state  organizations  in 
thirty-two  of  the  strongest  states.  It  is  not 
strange  that  the  cap-stone  is  imposing  in  appear 
ance  and  value.  Its  Home  Mission  work  is 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  five  national  societies, 
in  each  of  which  the  women  sustain  a  definite 
part  by  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of 
Sunday-schools,  the  building  of  parsonages,  the 
conduct  of  educational  and  evangelistic  work 
among  the  exceptional  and  defective  classes  of 
our  country.  It  also  does  city  mission  work, 
and  is  training  its  workers  in  a  new  Missionary 
Training  School. 

All  these  various  Boards  publish  their  own 
missionary  magazines,  besides  great  quantities  of 
informational  and  inspirational  literature.  They 
all  make  much  of  work  by  the  young  people  of 
the  church,  using  varying  methods  to  obtain 
their  interest  and  adherence. 

In  the  story  of  this  large  work  of  organization 
and  development  certain  names  spring  into 
prominence,  and  beloved  personalities  come  to 


tf] 


A  Conserving  Force  43 

mind.  Would  that  there  were  space  in  which  to 
mention  every  one  and  to  recount  the  history  of 
her  gracious,  capable,  self-giving  effort.  Noth 
ing  could  be  more  inspiring  to  American  women, 
or  more  grateful  to  the  historian.  Did  ever  the 
unsought  reward  of  such  service  come  in  larger 
measure,  or  in  sweeter  manner,  than  in  the  de 
votion  with  which  every  such  consecrated  leader 
has  been  surrounded  by  her  loyal  constituency  ! 
Every  woman  who  reads  these  pages  will  in 
stantly  think  of  some  such  splendid  character  to 
whom  her  heart  still  clings  in  almost  adoring 
appreciation.  Their  faces  rise  before  us ;  we 
hear  the  tones  of  their  voices  ;  we  feel  the  touch 
of  their  strong,  capable,  cordial  hands.  To 
name  one,  or  a  score  even,  would  be  to  provoke 
at  once  the  question:  "Why  not  another?" 
Having  fought  a  good  fight  and  kept  the  faith, they 
have  entered  into  "  the  rest  that  remaineth  " ; 
which,  after  all,  is  but  another  form  of  a  better 
service,  since  all  "  His  servants  shall  serve  Him." 
The  growth  of  the  spirit  of  comity,  fraternity 
and  unity  is  one  of  the  blessed  "  signs  of  the 
times  "  and  of  the  nearer  approach  of  the  king 
dom.  This  spirit  led  to  the  formation  of  Inter 
denominational  Committees  for  Home  Mission 
Study  and  Home  Mission  Conferences  and,  later, 
to  the  organization  of  the  Council  of  Women  for 
Home  Missions  with  which  the  Summer  Confer 
ences  are  now  affiliated. 


44       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

The  initial  steps  for  the  formation  of  the 
Council  were  taken  at  the  first  Conference  of  the 
Interdenominational  Committee  of  Women  for 
Home  Mission  Conferences  for  the  East  at  Lake 
George,  New  York,  in  July,  1907,  when  a  Com 
mittee  was  appointed  to  prepare  a  possible  plan 
of  union  between  that  Committee  and  the  Inter 
denominational  Committee  on  Home  Mission 
Study  Course.  This  Committee  reported  the 
following  year  at  Northfield,  recommending  that 
an  overture  be  presented  to  the  constituent  Boards 
and  Societies  represented  in  these  two  Commit 
tees,  asking  for  the  appointment  of  seven  mem 
bers  from  each  Board  to  organize  a  Council 
to  carry  on  all  lines  of  Interdenominational 
Woman's  Home  Mission  work.  These  repre 
sentatives  met  in  New  York,  November  20, 1908, 
and  organized  the  Council  of  Women  for  Home 
Missions.  The  number  of  representatives  from 
each  Board  or  Society  was  fixed  at  nine  for  the 
present. 

The  purpose  of  the  Council  is  to  integrate  the 
work  of  all  Home  Mission  Summer  Schools  or 
Conferences,  to  provide  interdenominational  text 
books  for  Home  Mission  Study  Classes,  to  pro 
vide  literature  for  interdenominational  use,  to 
arrange  a  service  for  an  interdenominational 
Day  of  Prayer,  to  care  for  Home  Mission 
interests  among  children  and  in  schools  and 
colleges,  and,  in  general,  to  promote  interde- 


A  Conserving  Force  45 

nominational  fellowship  and  cooperation  among 
Women's  Boards  and  Societies.  In  the  special 
lines  of  work  in  charge  of  its  standing  com 
mittees,  and  in  its  relation  to  other  interde 
nominational  bodies  and  united  action  in  public 
movements  or  national  problems,  this  Council  is 
peculiarly  needed,  and  will  more  and  more  justify 
its  value.  It  is  believed  that  it  will  prove  to  be  a 
valuable  factor  in  broadening  the  outlook  of  Home 
Mission  women,  and  in  making  more  effective 
their  efforts  to  extend  the  Gospel  of  the  kingdom 
in  the  home-land. 

God  has  given  to  this  nation  the  leadership  of 
the  world.  Christian  women  of  America,  dare 
you  be  indifferent  to  your  duty  and  your  privi 
lege  ?  "  If  this  generation  is  faithful  to  its  trust, 
America  is  to  become  God's  right  arm  in  His 
battle  with  the  world's  ignorance  and  oppression 
and  sin." 


II 

WHAT  TO  DO  FOR  THE  IMMIGRANT 

Prof.  Edward  A.  Steiner 

Author  of  «  Against  the  Current,"  «  On  the  Trail  of  the 
Immigrant,"  "  The  Immigrant  Tide,"  etc. 


"  /  have  seen  wretched  Italian  children  who  came 
from  where  they  make  little  fairies  out  of  Carrara 
marble,  yet  they  were  crooked  without  and  within  / 
and  I  have  seen  them  grow  tall  and  beautiful  and 
pure  by  the  grace  of  God  and  the  passion  of  som,> 
noble  woman  [in  this  America  of  ours']" 

"  Finally,  what  we  teach  the  immigrant  by  pre 
cept  or  example,  he  will  become.  He  will  bequeath 
our  virtues  or  our  vices,  not  only  to  the  next  genera 
tion  which  will  spring  with  virgin  strength  from  h:s 
loins  ;  but  through  thousands  of  invisible  channels  he 
will  send  these  blessings  or  curses  to  the  ends  ef  the 
earth. 

"  The  issues  of  the  kingdom  of  God  in  this  genera 
tion  are  with  America" 

— STEINER. 


II 

WHAT  TO  DO  FOR  THE  IMMIGRANT 

EVEN  the  casual  observer  of  social  phe 
nomena  is  struck  by  the  prevailing  un 
rest,  which  is  not  confined  to  any  coun 
try,  but  seems  to  have  affected  the  whole  human 
race.     It  manifests  itself  in  the  wonderful  growth 
of  Social   Democracy,  through   which  the  disaf 
fected  try  to  escape  their  present  unsatisfactory 
condition,  or  by  emigration  to  less  densely  popu 
lated  countries. 

The  first  movement  is  restricted  to  the  more 
educated  classes,  among  the  more  advanced 
races  ;  while  the  latter  has  taken  hold  of  the 
lower  classes  the  world  over,  even  where  over 
crowding  is  not  a  contributing  cause.  This 
migratory  movement  is  directed  almost  entirely 
towards  the  United  States,  Canada,  and  two  or 
three  of  the  larger  and  more  prosperous  republics 
of  South  America. 

While  there  are  many  influences  which  have 
acted  as  disquieting  leaven  among  the  masses, 
one  of  its  chief  causes  may  be  said  to  be  the  dis 
covery  of  America  by  Columbus  and  its  redis 
covery  by  his  latter  day  countrymen. 
49 


50       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

Prior  to  the  discovery  of  this  continent,  both 
wealth  and  station  in  life  were  regarded  as  privi 
leges  of  certain  classes;  while  poverty  and  servi 
tude  were  accepted  as  the  perpetual  burden  of 
the  many.  When  men  returned  from  across  the 
seas  with  wealth  which  this  open  continent 
yielded  to  any  one  who  dared,  when  the  poo  * 
man  by  means  of  his  gold  lifted  himself  abovt; 
his  fellows,  the  revolutionary  virus  was  intro 
duced.  As  the  result,  for  two  centuries,  village: 
and  peasant  have  felt  its  stirring  effects,  while  this 
continent  has  received  the  humble  of  all  nations, 
who  have  here  sought  the  way  out  of  hopeles  s 
poverty  and  servitude. 

In  the  discovery  of  America,  humanity  discov 
ered,  or  at  least  rediscovered  itself;  for  here  it 
saw  that  a  child  born  in  a  log  cabin  might  live 
and  die  in  the  White  House,  and  that  wood- 
choppers  and  mule  drivers  were  not  debarred  by 
their  menial  tasks  from  ultimately  occupying  the 
highest  offices  of  the  state. 

When  one  of  these  millions  of  humans  re 
turned  to  his  home  country,  with  its  barriers  of 
caste  and  class,  the  story  that  he  told  of  democ 
racy  in  action  became  another  potent  factor  in 
the  modern  unrest. 

What  do  these  people  seek,  who  come  to  us  ? 
If  their  desires  can  be  classified,  they  group 
themselves  around  two  imperative  demands  : 

I.     The  men  that  come  to  us  ask  that,  in  ex- 


What  to  Do  for  the  Immigrant        51 

change  for  energy  expended,  they  may  receive  a 
wage  which,  after  satisfying  their  legitimate 
needs,  should  leave  them  a  margin  sufficient  to 
satisfy  their  social  desires. 

This  demand,  translated  into  one  of  the  mir 
acles  of  the  Master,  means  that  these  men  ought 
to  have  plenty  of  bread  to  eat  and  enough  frag 
ments  left  over  to  be  worth  picking  up ;  for  while 
in  the  bread  is  the  living,  in  the  fragments  is  the 
life.  It  means  that  they  ought  to  have  a  living 
wage  and  a  little  above  it — a  room  to  sleep  in 
and  one  or  two  for  the  gratification  of  the  family 
pride  ;  clothing  to  cover  their  bodies  and  a  Sun 
day  suit  in  which  to  feel  clean  ;  plenty  of  fresh 
air  and  a  playground  for  the  children  ;  good  pub 
lic  schools  and  a  chance  to  go  to  college.  To 
them  America  means  economic  fragments  and 
their  demands  mean  no  more  than  economic 
justice. 

This  economic  demand  is  not  always  ours  to 
grant,  but  it  is  the  duty  of  every  Christian  citizen 
to  labour  for  it. 

2.  They  come  here  that  they  may  have  an 
opportunity  to  develop  those  latent  powers  which 
have  been  dormant  because  they  never  had  the 
time  or  the  money  to  develop  them. 

While  it  is  true  that  the  vast  majority  of  immi 
grants  ask  for  no  more  than  an  opportunity  to 
labour  for  a  decent  wage,  it  is  equally  true  that 
in  nearly  every  normal  human  being  there  is 


$2       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

another  and  higher  demand  which  expresses 
itself  in  various  ways,  but  which  may  be  stated 
thus: 

The  awakened  human  being  has  a  natural  de 
sire  to  earn  the  respect  of  his  fellow  men,  regard 
less  of  the  race  or  class  to  which  he  belongs. 
This  means  that  the  immigrant,  whatever  h  s 
nationality  or  class,  does  not  want  to  be  called 
"  Dago  "  or  "  Sheeny  "  ;  and  does  not  want  to  be 
judged  by  the  worst  characteristics  of  the  lowest 
type  of  his  group.  He  does  not  want  to  be  met 
by  prejudice  and  suspicion ;  he  wants  the  chance 
to  prove  himself  worthy  of  the  respect  of  h  s 
neighbours,  by  what  "  manner  of  man  "  he  him 
self  is. 

If  he  is  to  be  judged,  we  must  judge  him  by 
the  witness  of  history  and  not  by  the  prejudiced 
testimony  of  those  who  either  do  not  know  him 
at  all,  or  who  know  him  under  abnormal  con 
ditions.  The  first  duty  which  we  owe  to  the  im 
migrant  and  to  ourselves  is  to  know  him. 

Not  every  one  can  travel  in  the  byways  of 
Europe  and  see  the  immigrant  under  normal 
conditions,  but  all  those  who  have  so  seen  him, 
and  whose  testimony  is  at  all  unprejudiced,  have 
discovered  his  value. 

No  one  can  see  these  patient  toilers  in  their 
home  villages,  their  almost  hopeless  struggle 
against  adverse  conditions,  without  realizing  that 
we  do  not  get  the  "  offscouring  of  Europe,"  that 


What  to  Do  for  the  Immigrant        53 

they  are  not  the  material  from  which  paupers  are 
made  and  that  they  will  undoubtedly  become 
honest  neighbours,  loyal  citizens  and  brave  de 
fenders  of  their  adopted  country. 

While  not  all  of  us  can  know  the  immigrant 
as  he  is  under  normal  conditions,  and  by  per 
sonal  contact,  the  literature  that  deals  with  him, 
on  his  native  soil,  is  rich  and  varied  and  much  of 
it  is  reliable. 

It  is  best  to  read,  first,  such  books  as  deal  with 
the  history  of  the  race  concerned,  and  then  those 
which  describe  the  life  of  the  people ;  but  one 
must  beware  of  those  interesting  books  written 
by  tourists  who  pass  into  a  country  and  out  of  it 
in  less  than  a  calendar  month. 

From  such  a  study  one  ought  to  carry  the 
pivotal  names  of  the  different  nationalities,  those 
great  personalities  which  express  the  yearning  of 
the  people  and  are  names  to  be  conjured  with 
now,  although  centuries  have  gone  since  they 
passed  away.  For  instance ;  from  the  story  of 
the  struggle  for  a  United  Italy,  one  ought  to 
carry  away,  and  that  as  no  small  treasure,  the 
name  of  Mazzini,  the  Christian,  philosopher, 
statesman ;  of  Cavour,  the  politician  and  states 
man  ;  and  of  Garibaldi,  the  patriot  soldier. 

A  study  of  Hungarian  history  would  strengthen 
one's  faith  in  the  ideals  and  currents  of  history 
through  the  knowledge  of  such  personalities  as 
Tzecheny  and  Kossuth ;  while  even  such  small 


54       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

nations  as  Albania  and  Montenegro  have  a 
Scanderberg  or  a  Czar  Duchan  to  be  discovered, 
great  souls  whose  spirit  lives  in  those  wild  moun 
tain  regions  to-day.  The  study  of  the  life  ard 
the  customs  of  any  of  our  immigrant  groups  is 
full  of  charm  and  one  will  invariably  find  beneath 
many  surface  differences,  the  underlying  human 
qualities  which  prove  that  we  are  all  children  of 
one  Father. 

The  books  dealing  with  this  problem  can  be 
divided  into  three  classes,  i.  Those  which  a/e 
outspokenly  antagonistic  and  consequently  pessi 
mistic.  They  blame  the  immigrant  for  near  y 
all  of  our  social  ills. 

2.  Those  which  are  superficially  optimistic, 
see  no  peril  ahead,  and  predict  as  the  result  of 
this  influx  of  peoples  a  new  race,  virile  and 
strong. 

The  third  class  of  books  is  without  prejudice, 
pointing  out  the  good  and  ill  of  all  these  new 
peoples  and  passing  fair  judgment  upon  their 
race  qualities. 

It  is  worth  while  to  read  one  or  more  books  of 
each  class  and  then  draw  one's  own  conclusions. 
Whatever  one's  opinion  about  the  desirability  of 
admitting  this  or  that  particular  class  of  immi 
grants,  the  fact  remains  that  they  are  here — at 
our  doors,  and  the  danger  is  that  because  they 
are  so  near  to  us  we  shall  feel  them  farthest 
away.  For  in  love  of  the  individual  or  humanity 


What  to  Do  for  the  Immigrant        55 

it  is  true,  superficially  at  least,  that  "  distance 
lends  enchantment." 

Sociology  is  the  science  of  the  open  eye.  No 
microscope,  no  crucible,  is  required.  In  the 
laboratory,  the  component  elements  are  at  work 
— all  that  is  needed  is  the  open  eye.  It  is  not  a 
pleasant  picture.  There  are  rows  of  tenements, 
saloons,  mean-looking  stores,  ill-kept  children  ; 
and  yet  to  the  sympathetic  observer,  the  picture 
is  not  only  unrepellent,  but  marvellously  inter 
esting.  Usually  the  immigrants  are  found  in 
large  groups,  gathering  around  the  church  or 
synagogue ;  although  often  held  together  by 
some  shrewd  leader,  a  countryman  who  braved 
the  seas  before  them,  learned  our  ways  and  is 
now  showing  the  newcomers  how  to  walk  therein. 
We  see  them  thus  en  masse,  possessing  certain 
race  characteristics  in  common,  but  when  sepa 
rated  they  are  like  all  of  us,  the  possessors  of  in 
dividual  features  which  differentiate  them  one 
from  the  other ;  with  their  own  evil  and  good  to 
bless  or  curse  them,  and  with  their  own  souls 
striving  often  blindly  after  God. 

Race  characteristics  that  are  physical  are,  of 
course,  due  to  inheritance  from  common  ances 
tors  and  are  held  in  a  certain  mould  by  environ 
ment.  The  climate,  the  character  of  the  soil  and 
the  food,  create  a  type,  and  national  and  relig 
ious  ideals  fix  it  upon  face  and  form.  Racial 
habits,  such  as  mark  the  gesticulation  of  the 


56       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

Italian,  the  peculiar  shrug  of  the  Jew,  as  well  as 
their  degrees  of  cleanliness  and  morality,  are  im 
itative.  Both  race  characteristics  and  race  habits 
are  under  the  control  of  environment  and  in  this 
fact  lies  the  Christian's  duty  and  the  Christian  s 
hope. 

The  millions  who  have  come  to  us  with  their 
peculiar  race  characteristics  and  habits  are  daily 
undergoing  some  change.  The  very  air  they 
breathe,  with  its  excess  of  ozone,  the  food  they 
eat,  enough  and  to  spare,  the  freedom  of  move 
ment,  never  accorded  under  autocratic  govern 
ments,  tend  to  create  violent  changes  which  one 
may  observe  every  day — a  vision  more  wonder 
ful  than  that  of  the  immutable  stars. 

The  Slav,  attached  to  our  highly  geared  ma 
chinery,  loses  his  sluggish  ways  and  becomes, 
like  us,  nervous  and  enterprising. 

The  undersized,  spare,  dynamic  Italian  tends 
to  become  calm  in  our  atmosphere,  in  which,  in 
order  to  survive,  one  must  husband  one's  nerv 
ous  force. 

The  Jew  in  the  freedom  of  environment 
straightens  his  crooked  body,  rests  his  furtive 
eyes  and  loses  his  physical  fear — all  inheritances 
of  age-long  oppressions. 

Many  anthropological  dogmas  have  received 
their  death-blow  by  our  experiences  with  the 
immigrant ;  notably,  the  theory  of  the  fixed  head 
form.  It  has  been  held  that,  while  all  racial 


What  to  Do  for  the  Immigrant        57 

characteristics  are  liable  to  change  under  the 
force  of  geographical  control,  the  head  form  of  a 
race  remained  fixed — at  least,  that  it  took  ages 
to  make  any  impression  upon  it.  The  anthro 
pological  section  of  the  Committee  on  Immigra 
tion,  appointed  by  President  Roosevelt,  reports 
that  in  one  generation  the  head  forms  of  these 
newcomers  change. 

If,  then,  this  bony  structure,  which  has  resisted 
change  in  the  old  world,  changes  so  quickly  in 
the  new,  may  it  not  be  that  the  whole  inner  life 
of  these  strangers  shall  be  reorganized  and  that 
we  may  help  create  here  out  of  this  flux,  new 
material,  a  new  race,  not  only  the  equal  of  the 
older  race,  but  its  superior  ? 

In  the  light  of  these  facts,  it  is  primarily  our 
duty  to  see  to  it  that  the  environment  under 
which  these  newcomers  live  and  labour  shall  be 
such  as  to  have  full  control  over  their  bodies  and 
minds.  It  means  a  battle  for  good  air,  a  fight 
with  the  viciously  crowded  tenement.  It  means 
war  against  unsanitary  conditions  of  labour, 
against  long  wearying  hours  in  the  shops  and 
factories  and  protection  for  women  and  children. 

The  new  American  race,  being  shaped  before 
our  very  eyes,  will  be  in  the  next  generation 
what  we  help  to  make  it,  outwardly  and  in 
wardly,  and  the  conditions  under  which  the 
masses  live  will  largely  contribute  towards  the 
inward  changes. 


58       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

I  have  said  that  it  is  our  duty  to  learn  to  know 
the  immigrant;  that  is,  we  must  learn  to  separate 
the  individual  from  the  mass.  We  must  learn  to 
know  the  souls  of  men  before  we  can  do  th^ 
work  which  is  presented  to  us  by  this  great  op 
portunity. 

To  the  great  work  in  foreign  lands  we  give 
our  choicest  men  and  women.  We  give  them 
time  to  prepare  through  long  years  of  college 
and  the  professional  school,  then  time  and 
money  for  laborious  study  of  the  language,  and 
finally  time  and  money  to  live  the  Christian  life 
as  leaven  in  the  midst  of  the  people. 

The  best  young  men  and  women  are  none  too 
good  for  work  among  the  immigrants.  If  en 
vironment  is  so  vital  a  factor  in  shaping  the  phys 
ical  life  of  men,  the  personal  element  must  play 
a  great  part  in  working  the  inner  changes.  The 
Christian  is  a  witness,  a  type,  a  model;  and  it  is 
our  business  to  project  into  the  life  of  the  immi 
grants  the  best  and  most  unselfish  types  which 
our  Christian  civilization  has  produced.  The 
average  native  worker  among  the  immigrants  is 
hampered  by  his  limited  knowledge  of  our  cul 
ture  and  civilization,  and  by  the  prejudices  of  his 
countrymen  against  one  who  has  changed  his 
religion,  who  is  exalted  above  them  and  paid  a 
salary  to  convert  them.  The  most  successful 
work  done  among  the  immigrants  has  always 
been  done  by  Americans,  who  were  best 


What  to  Do  for  the  Immigrant        59 

equipped  for  the  task,  even  if  they  knew  little 
or  nothing  of  the  language  of  the  people,  if  they 
could  minister  to  them  through  a  fine  personality 
and  out  of  a  rich  inner  life. 

The  results  of  such  work  have  been  remark 
able  considering  the  equipment.  There  are  now 
in  Protestant  churches  in  the  United  States  more 
Italians,  Slavs  and  Jews  than  at  any  other  time 
in  our  history.  But  we  have  only  touched  the 
surface.  With  the  violent  prejudices  which  exist 
among  the  immigrants,  forms  of  worship  and  of 
Christian  activities  must  be  modified  and  ad 
justed  to  the  needs  of  the  people.  The  study 
of  English,  the  teaching  of  cooking  and  sewing, 
showing  pictures,  and  the  reading  of  good  litera 
ture,  may  have  to  be  used  as  aids  in  working  for 
the  inner  changes  while  the  gathering  of  results 
and  making  columns  of  religious  statistics  may 
have  to  be  deferred. 

The  leaflets  for  the  study  of  English,  published 
by  the  national  secretaries  of  the  Young  Women's 
Christian  Association,  which  are  frankly  religious, 
are  to  my  mind  much  more  effective  than  those 
which  deal  only  with  material  things.  They 
would,  however,  destroy  their  high  usefulness  if 
the  controversial  element  were  permitted  to 
enter. 

The  New  Testament  is  a  splendid  primer  for 
the  study  of  English,  but  in  the  case  of  Jewish 
classes  the  Psalms  can  be  used  and  the  same 


60       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

ends  may  be  achieved.  It  is  a  mistake  to  sup 
pose  that  the  religious  motive  needs  to  be  hidden ; 
the  contrary  is  the  case.  The  more  frankly, 
openly  and  truly  religious  the  atmosphere  of  the 
mission  or  the  settlement,  the  better.  What 
needs  to  be  totally  excluded  is  the  proselyting 
element. 

The  church  needs  to  revise  her  whole  Hom<i 
Missionary  program.  She  needs  to  inspire  her 
best  sons  and  daughters  to  yield  their  whole  live.1; 
to  this  great  and  overwhelming  task.  She  mus: 
call  her  noblest  disciples  to  her  aid.  Whether  the 
worker  is  an  immigrant  or  native  born,  he  needs 
long,  careful  training ;  for  only  those  should  go 
to  break  the  bread  of  life  whose  bodies  arc 
broken  to  the  task  and  whose  blood  rushes  warm 
to  the  sacrificial  endeavour. 

Those  who  go  to  do  this  work  must  be  physic 
ally,  mentally  and  spiritually  fit  representatives  of 
the  children  of  the  kingdom ;  they  must  know 
the  mighty  enginery  of  the  Word  of  God  and  be 
able  to  use  it;  they  must  know  the  genius  and 
the  weaknesses  of  the  people  to  whom  they  go 
to  minister  in  Christ's  name,  and  be  endowed 
with  the  gift  of  tongues.  A  few  words  in  a 
foreign  language,  spoken  in  love,  are  more  elo 
quent  than  a  whole  dictionary  in  one's  head  and 
a  stone  in  one's  heart. 

One  noble  woman  in  Pennsylvania,  who  minis 
ters  to  immigrants,  a  woman  of  wealth  and  eul- 


What  to  Do  for  the  Immigrant        61 

ture,  knows  only  two  words  of  the  Slavic  tongue. 
They  mean,  "  It  hurts,"  and  "  Good,"  or,  "  Does 
it  hurt  ?  It  will  become  good."  Simple  words  ; 
but  with  a  loving  look,  a  gentle  touch,  they  are  a 
big,  big  sermon. 

The  bulk  of  the  problem  is  at  the  door  of  the 
church.  There  are  two  ways  of  meeting  it. 
Either  close  the  doors  and  substitute  picture 
shows  and  dance  halls  or  else  meet  it  as  the 
Presbyterian  church  is  doing,  through  its  re 
cently  organized  Labour  Temple  in  New  York 
City.  The  church  organization  on  Fourteenth 
Street,  engulfed  by  a  million-headed  throng  of 
Jews,  found  it  wise  to  move  from  its  down-town 
location  to  an  up-town  neighbourhood. 

The  Home  Missionary  Board  of  the  Presby 
terian  church,  through  its  Labour  Bureau,  having 
faith  in  the  power  of  the  Gospel  and  in  the  head 
of  the  Labour  Bureau,  the  Rev.  Charles  Stelzle, 
moved  in  as  the  church  moved  out,  and  within  a 
few  months,  the  abandoned  quarter  in  Fourteenth 
Street  became  a  throbbing  hive  of  Christian 
activity.  Its  Labour  Temple  Bulletin  is  a  church 
calendar  showing  that  nearly  every  evening  hour 
of  every  day  is  occupied. 

It  is  impossible  to  convey  the  spirit  of  rev 
erence  and  gratitude  in  those  who  come  and  go, 
or  to  name  the  centres  of  influence  which  are 
created  in  that  most  congested  region  of  one 
city,  or  to  fully  appreciate  the  spirit  of  devotion 


62        Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

in  those  who  cooperate  with  Mr.  Stelzle  to  ma'ce 
this  work  a  success. 

There  are  many  such  centres  in  our  great 
cities,  but  not  too  many ;  there  are  enough, 
however,  to  prove  that  it  is  a  sin  to  abandon  a 
church  when  and  where  it  is  most  needed  and 
move  it  to  a  region  where,  while  it  can  receive, 
it  can  give  but  little,  and  that  only  to  a  select  few. 

Of  course,  the  work  of  the  Labour  Temple  ar  d 
kindred  organizations  must  have  the  whole 
church  behind  it;  but  in  smaller  ways  individual 
churches,  while  maintaining  their  corporate  exist 
ence,  can  learn  to  minister  to  their  new  neigh 
bours.  I  know  of  no  instance  where  individual 
work  has  been  undertaken  in  the  true  spirit  with 
out  being  a  success  ;  while  our  church  life  is 
being  enriched  by  the  fresh  new  spirit  of  those 
who  come  into  the  kingdom  through  much  tribu 
lation. 

It  is  true  that  self-sacrificing  gifts  are  needed 
to  make  the  work  among  the  immigrants  possi 
ble,  but  what  is  needed  still  more  is  a  new  atti 
tude  of  mind — a  change  of  heart  on  the  part  of 
Christian  people  ;  their  prejudices  and  their  pride 
are  the  great  barriers  between  it  and  the  accom 
plishment  of  the  greatest  opportunity  ever  offered 
to  the  church  of  God. 

I.  It  is  essential  that  every  vestige  of  prejudice 
arising  from  a  contemplation  of  the  problem 
itself  be  removed.  Overzealous  missionaries 


JC(ABOR 

1ULLETIN 


A  WEEKLY  NEWS-LETTER  IN  THE  INTER. 
EST  OFTHE  LABOR  TEMPLE.  FOURTEENTH 
STREET  AND  SECOND  AVENUE,  NEW  YORK 


Address  all  official  communications  to 
Charles  Stelzle.  156  Fifth  Avenue.  New  York 


SATURDAY,  MARCH  11.  1911 


SCHEDULE  OF  MEETINGS 

Week  beginning  March  12,  1911 


Sunday,  March  12th 

8  OOP  M     LABOR  TEMPLE  BROTH 
ERHOOD 

2:30  P.M.     BIBLE    CLASS     Conducted 

8  :00  P  M     REHEARSAL:     Temple 

bv  the  Rev.  H.  P   Vaughn 

Chorus 

3  :30  P.  M.     SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

8:00  P.M.    LECTURE      "First    A.d    to 

3:30  P.M.    ORGAN'     RECITAL:    G. 

the  Injured."  by  Dr    Thoma- 

Scott   Hunter 

H.   Russell 

4:00  P.  M      MUStCAL     RECITAL      By 

the  Kahn  Trio 
5:00  P.M.    MOTION  PICTURES 

Thursday,  March  16th 

6  -00  P  M.     Luncheon  and  Social   Hour 
7:30  P  M.     SONG  SERVICE.  Mr    Hal- 

4:30  P.M.    BOY    SCOUTS,    Troop    No 
31 

lam,    Temple   Orchestra    and 
Chorus;    Male.  Quartette, 
Messrs.  R.  A.  Coan,  \V.  Sel- 
lars,  Alfred  Hallam  and  Con- 

8:00  P.M.    CLASS    IN    SIGHT-SING 
ING.  Under  auspices  of  the 
People's  Choral   Union 
8:00  P.M.     ILLUSTRATED    LEC 

stantine  Zimin. 
8:OOP.M.    ADDRESS:    "A    Day's 
Work,"  bv  the  Rev.  Charles 
Stel/le. 

TURE:    "Rome:    the    Quick 
and  the-  Dead,  a  New  View," 
by  Mr.  Arthur  Stanley  Riggs. 

9:00  P.M.    MOTION  PICTURES. 

Friday,  March  17th 

Monday,  March  I3th 

4  :00  P.  M.    CHILDREN'S   GAME 

«:OOP  M.    SOCIAL  XIGHT. 

HOUR. 
5:00  P.M.    CHILDREN'S   SINGING 

CLUB. 

Tuesday,  March  14th 

7  :30  P.  M.    GIRL'S  DIVERSITY  CLUB 
8  :00  P.M.    REHEARSAL:    Temple   Or 

4:00  P.M.    PENNY  SAVINGS  BANK. 

chestra. 

4:00  P.M.    BOY  SCOUTS. 

8:00  P.M.    COOKING     CLASS:     Con 

4:30  P.M.    BOY    SCOUTS,    Troop   No. 

ducted     by     the     Associated 

34. 

Clubs   of    Domestic    Science  , 

8  :00  P.  M.    YOUNG  WOMEN'S  CLUB. 

Mrs.   Mary  Elizabeth   Minott 

8  :00  P.  M.    DUNCAN      ATHLETIC 

in   charge. 

CLUB. 

8:00  P.M.    ADDRESS:    "What    I    mean 

8  -.00  P.  M.    "IMPERATORS." 

by     Personal    Religion,"    by 

8:00  P.M.    OPEN     FORUM:     "False 

Dr.  John  P.  Peters. 

Weights    and    Measures,"   by 

Dr.  Fritz  Reichmann. 

Saturday,  March  18th 

Wednesday,  March  15th 

4  -30  P.M.    CHILDREN'S  HOUR   FOR 
MOTION  PICTURES. 

4  -00  P.M.    TEMPLE      FRIENDLY 

7:00  P.M.     PENNY   SAVINGS   BANK. 

CLUB. 

8:00  P:M.     PEOPLE'S       POPULAR 

8:00  P.M.    LABOR  TEMPLE  SOCIAL 

PROGRAM:  Music  and  Mo 

CLUB. 

tion   Pictures. 

THE    PUBLIC    IS    INVITED    TO    ALL  MEETINGS    HELD    AT    THE    LABOR    TEMPLE 


What  to  Do  for  the  Immigrant        63 

have  overstimulated  our  fears  until  we  see  in  all 
these  people  a  band  of  "  Black  Hands,"  a  seeth 
ing  mass  of  corruption  and  ignorance. 

In  an  address  by  an  agent  of  a  church  organi 
zation,  the  immigrant  was  blamed  for  every  one 
of  our  social  problems  except  race  suicide  and 
divorce.  Such  a  view  is  manifestly  unfair  and 
injurious  to  the  work  itself.  Fear  is  never  a 
good  motive  for  Christian  work.  But  it  is  much 
more  natural  to  think  of  law  courts,  jails  and 
penitentiaries,  when  we  are  gripped  by  the  fear 
of  the  immigrant  problem,  than  to  think  of  the 
Gospel. 

I  know  every  group  of  these  aliens,  as  we 
sometimes  call  them,  and  I  know  them  to  be 
human,  just  plain  human  ;  imperfect,  sinful,  per 
haps,  with  some  vices  and  many  virtues — all  of 
them  with  souls  more  or  less  touched  by  the 
grace  of  God.  To  the  Christian  this  is  no  prob 
lem,  but  an  opportunity.  It  will  be  a  problem 
only  if  we  do  not  grasp  our  opportunity.  Our 
minds  must  be  purged  of  fear.  There  is  nothing 
so  harmful  to  the  good  as  an  attitude  of  mind 
heavy  from  suspicion  of  ill. 

It  is  not  true  that  all  Southern  Italians  are 
"  Black  Hands,"  or  all  Russian  Jews  anarchists, 
or  all  Slavs  vicious  and  quarrelsome.  They  are 
all  rough  human  material,  awaiting  the  touch  of 
the  divine  grace  to  be  changed,  by  slow  processes 
through  the  eternities,  into  His  likeness. 


64       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

2.  We   must   believe   that   the   environment 
created  by  the  Gospel  can  shape  all  men  into 
Christ's   likeness,  and  consequently  make  them 
fit  for  social  relationship.     This  is  to  me  the  ever 
new  miracle  performed  by  the  Christ — this  shap 
ing  of  all  human  beings  whom  He  touches  into 
His  likeness.     Among  Russian  peasants,  Italian 
quarrymen,  Chinese  coolies,  He  works   His  re 
deeming   miracles,  when  He  enters  the  human 
heart,  when   His   spirit  becomes   the  motive  of 
life  and  action  ;  and  whether  a  man  is  a  Russian 
mujik,  an  Italian  quarryman  or  a  Slovak  miner, 
the  grace  of  God  can  shape  and  lift  and  fill  him 
so  that  he  will  grow  into  the  image  of  the  Son 
of  God. 

This  is  the  place  where  ancient  barriers,  lon^- 
established  dividing  lines  and  walls  of  separation 
can  be  and  must  be  broken  down  ;  for  it  is  true, 
I  mean  scientifically  true,  that  in  Christ  Jesus 
there  is  neither  Jew  nor  Greek,  neither  bond  nor 
free,  "  they  are  all  one  in  Him."  A  Christian 
democracy,  such  as  we  profess  to  believe  in,  can 
be  realized  only  if  we  believe  in  the  uplifting 
power  of  the  Gospel,  and  accept  its  results  in  its 
inner  manifestation,  even  if  the  outer  differences 
created  by  race,  or  class,  are  left  unchanged. 

3.  We   need  to  have   created  in  us  the  spirit 
of  reverence  for  the  human  soul,  no  matter  how 
encased  in   crude  flesh.     We  have  talked  much 
about  saving  souls  and  have,  mentally  at  least, 


What  to  Do  for  the  Immigrant        6$ 

detached  the  soul  from  its  tenement.  But  body 
and  soul  are  one  and  he  who  despises  the  one 
despises  the  other.  No  matter  from  where  this 
man  whom  we  touch  in  the  crowd  or  who  faces 
us  has  come,  appealing  for  a  chance  to  earn  our 
wages,  or  our  respect,  he  is  entitled  to  it,  for  he 
has  travelled  far,  has  braved  much,  has  suffered 
more.  He  may  be  crude,  illiterate,  ill-kept  and 
unkempt ;  yet  he  is  a  brother-man  struggling  up 
ward,  blindly  often,  not  knowing  the  way,  think 
ing  that  the  crooked  is  straight  and  the  ill  good. 
Whoever,  whatever  he  is,  he  deserves  our  respect, 
if  only  for  the  spark  of  the  divine  flame  within 
him — smothered  though  it  be  by  the  gray  ashes 
of  his  half-consumed  self. 

I  ask  reverence  for  the  human,  whether  it 
comes  from  Italy,  North  or  South,  from  the 
mountains  of  Hungary,  or  the  plains  of  Russia ; 
whether  it  is  blackened  by  hot  suns  or  bleached 
by  bitter  cold ;  whether  gorged  by  wealth  or 
stunted  by  poverty,  still  let  us  reverence  the  hu 
man,  for  it  is  made  only  a  little  lower  than  God. 
This  reverence,  a  sense  of  respect  for  the  human, 
we  lack,  and  our  children  lack  it  because  we  do 
not  have  it.  We  shall  never  win  the  stranger  to 
us  unless  we  grant  him  that  which  is  often  more 
precious  than  our  bread  or  our  wage. 

4.  We  need  to  cultivate  the  virtue  of  hu 
mility.  In  olden  times,  the  Jews  had  to  dwell  in 
huts  every  autumn,  to  remind  them  of  their  wan- 


66       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

derings  up  and  down  the  wilderness  until  God, 
in  His  goodness,  showed  the  way  to  the  abiding 
place.  We  ought  all,  once  a  year,  at  least 
mentally,  to  live  in  the  steerage  ;  for  from  th  s 
most  of  us  came— from  the  humble  places  in 
life  ;  some  of  us  nearer  to  our  present  station  in 
life  and  some  of  us  farther  from  it. 


For  by  grace  are  ye  saved  through  faith ;  and 
that  not  of  yourselves  ;  it  is  the  gift  of  God. 

Wherefore  remember,  that  ye  being  in  time 
past  Gentiles  in  the  flesh,  who  are  called  uncir- 
cumcision  by  that  which  is  called  circumcision  in 
the  flesh  made  by  hands ; 

That  at  that  time  ye  were  without  Christ,  be 
ing  aliens  from  the  commonwealth  of  Israel,  and 
strangers  from  the  covenants  of  promise,  having 
no  hope,  and  without  God  in  the  world  : 

But  now  in  Christ  Jesus,  ye  who  sometimes 
were  afar  off,  are  made  nigh  by  the  blood  of 
Christ. 


Let  us  not  forget  this,  as  a  people  and  as  indi 
viduals. 

Our  nation  has  been  enriched  by  contributions 
of  the  best  from  all  the  nations  of  the  world, 
poured  out  upon  her  shores.  It  has  achieved 
much,  it  has  failed  in  much.  We  are  a  su 
perior  people,  but  not  half  as  superior  as  we 
ought  to  be,  considering  the  opportunities  we 
have  had. 

A  sense  of  humility,  mingled  with  gratitude, 


What  to  Do  for  the  Immigrant        67 

will  enable  us  to  look  upon  these  strangers  with 
different  eyes  and  will  give  them  a  warmer  place 
in  our  affections. 

Lastly,  we  need  affection — love,  if  you  please, 
without  which  no  redeeming  work  can  be 
done.  Love  is  the  great  force  with  which  the 
Almighty  works  for  the  redemption  of  the 
human  race,  and  those  who  work  for  Him  need 
to  learn  to  love  even  those  outwardly  unlovely. 
This  is  a  hard  task,  and  yet  it  is  a  gift  which 
comes  with  service,  which  comes  with  the  giv 
ing.  This  is  the  testimony  of  all  those  who 
work  for  even  the  most  wretched.  Love  comes 
through  service.  Attempt  it  in  the  spirit  of  the 
Master,  and  love  will  not  be  only  a  tool  with 
which  to  work,  but  it  will  come  as  a  reward. 

Recently  I  walked  with  a  noble  Christian 
woman  through  a  wretched  tenement  section, 
clinging  like  a  loathsome  tumor  to  a  splendid 
residential  suburb.  Syrian  silk  weavers  lived 
there,  earning  bitter  bread  by  the  gorgeous  fab 
rics  their  deft  fingers  created.  Their  wage  for 
this  pomp  was  clothing  enough  to  cover  them 
and  part  of  a  wretched  roof  in  a  crowded  tene 
ment.  As  we  walked  through  this  unnecessary 
misery,  little  children  came  running  from  their 
haunts  and  embraced  my  guide,  constantly  cry 
ing:  "Miss  Mary,  come  to  my  house,"  "  Miss 
Mary,  come  to  my  mother  !  "  Wherever  we  en 
tered,  love  was  waiting  for  Miss  Mary,  who 


68       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

works  for  these  Syrians  without  money  wago, 
and  who  has  learned  to  love  them.  But  her 
wage  is  love,  more  love,  love  enough  to  fill  her 
heart  and  shine  out  of  her  face. 

I  must  recapitulate;  for  my  subject  seems 
complicated  by  many  divisions.  The  immigrant 
wants  the  chance  to  earn  bread  enough  and  to 
spare,  and  a  place  in  the  social  schemes  of  me  i, 
so  that  he  may  be  able  to  reach  out  towards 
neighbourliness  and  brotherhood.  We  are  not 
all  employers  of  labour,  but  we  are  all  neigh 
bours  ;  at  present,  all  neighbours  of  these  immi 
grants.  What  shall  we  do  that  we  may  be  able 
to  give  them  their  chance  and  to  know  them, — 
historically,  racially,  and,  above  all,  individually  ? 

Work  for  the  maintenance  of  a  virile  environ 
ment,  so  that  their  outer  life  may  have  its 
chance.  Work  for  the  cleansing  of  tenements, 
proper  hours  of  labour,  sanitary  shops,  and  pro 
tection  of  women  and  children ;  for  of  them  will 
be  the  next  generation. 

Work  for  the  inner  changes,  through  the  Mis 
sionary  Society.  Stimulate  it  by  wise  counsel 
and  abundant  gifts,  by  the  gift  of  yourself,  to 
send  the  best  types  of  Christian  men  and  women 
to  interpret  the  Gospel  and  to  witness  for  it  by  a 
changed  life. 

Through  your  church,  by  adjusting  its  services 
to  the  needs  of  these  immigrants,  and  so  far  as 
possible  to  their  prejudices.  Through  individual 


What  to  Do  for  the  Immigrant        69 

effort,  by  daily  ministration  and  Christian  ex 
ample. 

A  new  attitude  of  mind  is  needed  : 

Freedom  from  prejudice. 

Confidence  in  the  power  of  the  Gospel  to  work 
radical  changes. 

Reverence  for  the  human,  no  matter  how  en 
cased. 

Humility  of  spirit,  and  Love  Divine — which 
comes  through  service. 

All  these  things  we  can  do  and  feel  for  the 
immigrant ;  some  of  them  we  must  do  and  feel 
if  we  care  for  the  preservation  of  our  national 
ideals,  for  the  acquisition  of  the  new  gifts  in  the 
keeping  of  these  different  races ;  if  we  care  for 
the  coming  of  Christ's  kingdom  upon  the  earth. 


Ill 

THE  PROBLEM  OF  RACE 

Ray  Stannard  Baker 


"  //  is  in  the  South  that  the  Negro  is  given  a  man1 
chance  in  the  commercial  world" 

"  No  race  can  prosper  till  it  learns  that  there  is  a 
much  dignity  in  tilling  a  field  as  in  writing  a  poem . 
It  is  at  the  bottom  of  life  we  must  begin ,  and  not  a' 
the   top.      Nor  should  we  permit   our  grievances  ti 
overshadow  our  opportunities." 

"  There  is  no  defense  or  security  for  any  of  us  ex 
cept  in  the  highest  intelligence  and  development  of  ah. 
If  anywhere  there  are  efforts  tending  to  curtail  th,' 
fullest  growth  of  the  Negro,  let  these  efforts  be  turned 
into  stimulating,  encouraging,  and  making  him  a  use 
ful  and  intelligent  citizen.  Effort  or  means  so  in 
vested  will  pay  a  thousand  per  cent,  interest.  Thtst' 
efforts  will  be  twice  blessed — '  blessing  him  that  gives 
and  him  that  takes.' " 

— BOOKER  T.  WASHINGTON. 


Ill 

THE  PROBLEM  OF  RACE 

FROM  the  beginning  of  time  the  greatest 
of  human  problems  has  been  the  prob 
lem  of  race  relationships.     The  greatest 
wars  in  the  world's  history  have  been  wars  be 
tween  different  races   or  wars  dealing  with  the 
status  of  the  so-called  superior  and  inferior  races. 
The  Old  Testament  is  a  continuous  chronicle  of 
racial  differences,  racial  struggles,  racial  amalga 
mations. 

And  to-day  the  problems  of  race  are  more 
acute  than  ever  before  in  the  world's  history. 
The  invention  of  machinery,  and  improved 
transportation  and  communication,  have  served 
to  make  the  world  smaller,  to  bring  all  the  peo 
ples  of  the  earth  into  closer  relationships.  It  is 
easier  now  for  Americans  to  reach  the  tribes  of 
Central  Africa  than  it  was,  a  hundred  years  ago, 
for  Englishmen  to  sail  to  America.  Every 
nation  is  confronted  by  new  and  very  difficult 
problems  of  race  relationship.  As  Americans 
we  are  now  being  brought  into  closer  and  closer 
contact  with  black  and  yellow  people.  Fifty 
years  ago  the  Negro  problem  convulsed  the 
nation  :  but  to-day  we  not  only  have  the  Negro 
73 


74       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

problem,  but  on  our  Pacific  coast  and  islands 
we  have  a  Japanese  and  Chinese  problem,  and  in 
the  Philippine  Islands  we  have  a  tangle  of  races. 
Other  nations  are  facing  complexities  equally 
various  and  difficult.  England's  problem  in 
both  South  Africa  and  India  is  largely  racial. 
The  great  issue  in  Australia,  where  Chinese 
labour  has  become  a  political  question,  is  ex 
pressed  in  the  campaign  slogan :  "  A  white 
Australia." 

The  world,  in  short,  is  becoming  a  great 
family  where  it  is  impossible  for  any  one 
member,  whether  white,  or  yellow,  or  black,  to 
keep  to  himself,  or  to  live  his  own  undisturbed  life. 
New  demands  are  made  upon  Christian  civiliza 
tion  to  provide  a  way  of  life  under  which  man 
kind  may  live  in  peace  and  grow  in  character. 

In  its  simplest  analysis,  what  is  the  problem 
of  race  ? 

The  race  problem  is  the  problem  of  living 
with  people  who  are  not  like  us,  whether  they 
are,  in  our  estimation,  our  "  superiors  "  or  "  in 
feriors,"  whether  they  have  kinky  hair  or  pig 
tails,  whether  they  are  slant-eyed,  hook-nosed,  or 
thick-lipped.  In  its  essence  it  is  the  same  prob 
lem,  magnified,  which  besets  every  neighbour 
hood,  even  every  family. 

In  our  own  country  we  have  one  of  the  most 
difficult  and  illuminating  examples  of  the  race 
problem.  We  have  10,000,000  Negroes  distrib- 


PART   OF   THE   PROBLEM 

There  are  yet  50,000  native  Americans  who  have  not 
heard  the  Gospel  message 


The  Problem  of  Race  75 

uted  among  some  75,000,000  white  people  and 
we  are  now  working  out,  perhaps  in  advance  of 
any  other  people,  the  difficult  questions  arising 
from  such  a  condition.  We  are  finding  out  with 
infinite  pain  and  trouble  how  white  and  black 
men  may  dwell  side  by  side  and  yet  maintain  the 
principles  of  justice,  and  progress  steadily  in 
civilization. 

The  United  States  at  the  present  time  is  thus 
a  vast  social  laboratory  in  which  various  experi 
ments  in  race-relationship  are  being  tried  out. 
Fortunately,  or  unfortunately,  for  us,  we  have 
had  to  face  the  most  difficult  of  all  the  problems, 
for  the  very  extremes  of  racial  difference  are 
here  brought  together — some  of  the  highest 
types  of  the  Caucasian  with  some  of  the  lowest 
types  of  the  black  races.  If  we  can  solve  that 
problem,  our  experience  and  results  should  in 
deed  be  valuable  to  all  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

As  a  general  problem  can  best  be  studied  in 
some  one  of  its  specific  manifestations,  I  shall 
here  attempt  to  present  a  few  of  the  conclusions 
arrived  at  in  this  country  after  about  two  hundred 
and  fifty  years  of  association  of  the  two  races. 

In  the  first  place,  any  one  who  considers  even 
superficially  the  long  history  of  the  Negro  in 
America  will  see  at  once  that  we  have  reached 
at  least  one  great  general  conclusion  regarding 
race  relationships.  We  fought  a  great  war 
which  settled  that  principle  forever. 


76       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

No  one  race,  or  any  member  of  that  race,  is 
good  enough  to  own  even  one  single  being  of  any 
other  race. 

In  short,  we  decided  that  slavery  was  wrong, 
and  that  some  other  relationship  between  white 
and  black  men  must  be  devised.  This  new 
basis  is  what  we  have  been  at  work  upon  for 
nearly  fifty  years ;  and  we  have  really  been 
discovering  some  of  the  principles  which  should 
govern  race  relationships  in  a  modern  democ 
racy. 

Let  us  consider  some  of  the  conditions  which 
exist  to-day  in  the  South.  By  understanding 
the  reasons  for  race  feeling,  we  shall  be  the 
better  able  to  judge  of  the  remedies  proposed. 

In  the  first  place,  no  one  but  ourselves  is  to 
blame  for  the  difficulties  that  we  now  have  to 
face.  Like  most  troubles,  we  brought  them 
upon  ourselves.  The  Negroes  did  not  come 
here  originally  to  invade  us,  or  because  they 
wanted  to  come.  We  brought  them  by  force 
and  at  a  cruel  and  fearful  sacrifice  of  life.  We 
brought  them,  not  to  do  them  good,  but  selfishly, 
that  they  might  be  compelled  to  do  the  hard 
work  and  let  us  live  lazily,  eat  richly,  sleep  softly. 
We  treated  them  as  beasts  of  burden.  I  say 
"  we,"  for  the  North  owned  slaves  too,  at  first, 
and  emancipated  them  (by  selling  them  to  the 
South)  because  it  did  not  pay  to  keep  them. 
Nor  was  the  anti-slavery  movement  peculiar  to 


The  Problem  of  Race  77 

the  North ;  voices  were  raised  against  the 
institution  of  slavery  by  many  Southern  states 
men  from  Jefferson  down — men  who  knew  by 
familiar  observation  the  evil  of  slavery,  especially 
for  the  white  man. 

Out  of  the  wrong  of  slavery  grew  a  war,  and 
out  of  the  war  grew  the  period  of  reconstruction. 
The  South  to-day  is  still  clouded  with  the  bitter 
memories  of  that  war  and  of  the  reconstruction 
which  followed.  The  North  cannot  understand 
how  deep  and  real  this  feeling  is,  how  it  has  been 
woven  into  the  very  fabric  of  even  the  third 
generation.  The  North,  victorious,  forgot ;  but 
the  South,  broken  and  defeated,  remembered. 
Until  I  had  been  a  good  while  in  the  South,  and 
talked  with  many  people,  I  had  no  idea  what  a 
social  cataclysm  like  the  Civil  War  really  means 
to  those  who  are  defeated,  how  long  it  echoes  in 
the  hearts  of  men  and  women.  The  Negro  has 
indeed  suffered — suffered  on  his  way  upward ; 
but  the  better  class  of  white  man,  with  his  higher 
cultivation,  his  keener  sensibilities,  his  memories 
of  a  departed  glory,  has  suffered  far  more.  I 
have  tried,  as  I  have  listened  to  stories  of  the 
struggle  that  only  the  South  knows,  to  put  my 
self  in  the  place  of  these  Anglo-Saxon  men  and 
women,  and  I  think  I  can  understand  a  little,  at 
least,  of  what  it  must  have  meant  to  meet  defeat, 
loss  of  relatives  and  friends,  grinding  poverty,  the 
chaos  of  reconstruction — and  after  all  that  to 


78       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

have,  always  at  elbow-touch,  the  unconscious 
cause  of  all  their  trouble,  the  millions  of  inert, 
largely  helpless  Negroes  who,  imbued  with  ;i 
sharp  sense  of  their  rights,  are  attaining  only 
slowly  a  corresponding  appreciation  of  their 
duties  and  responsibilities. 

The  ruin  of  the  war  left  the  South  poor,  and  it 
has  provided  itself  slowly  with  educational  ad 
vantages.  It  is  a  long  step  behind  the  North  in 
the  average  of  education  among  white  people  as 
well  as  coloured.  But  more  than  all  else,  per 
haps,  the  South  is  in  the  throes  of  vast  economic 
changes.  It  is  in  the  transition  stage  between 
the  old,  wasteful,  semi-feudal  civilization  and  the 
sharp,  new  city  and  industrial  life.  It  is  suffering 
the  common  pains  of  readjustment;  and  being 
hurt,  it  is  not  wholly  conscious  of  the  real  reason. 

For  example,  troubles  between  the  races  that 
are  attributed  to  the  perversity  of  the  Negro  are 
often  only  the  common  difficulties  which  arise 
out  of  the  relationship  of  employer  and  employee. 
In  other  words,  difficulties  which  in  the  North 
we  know  as  the  labour  problem,  in  the  South  are 
often  attributed  to  the  race  problem  ;  and  this  is 
true,  indeed,  throughout  the  world  wherever  the 
race  problem  is  acute.  The  South  even  yet  has 
not  fully  established  itself  on  the  wage  system. 
Payment  of  Negroes  in  the  country  is  still  often 
a  matter  of  old  clothes,  baskets  from  the  white 
man's  kitchen  or  store,  with  occasionally  a  little 


The  Problem  of  Race  79 

money,  which  is  often  looked  upon  as  an  in 
dulgence  rather  than  a  right.  No  race  has  ever 
sprung  directly  from  slavery  into  the  freedom  of 
a  full-fledged  wage  system,  no  matter  what  the 
laws  were.  It  is  not  insignificant  of  progress 
that  the  "  basket  habit  "  is  coming  to  be  looked 
upon  as  thievery,  that  organized  charity  in  the 
cities  is  taking  the  place  of  indiscriminate  per 
sonal  gifts,  and  that  wages  are  more  regularly 
paid  and  measure  more  accurately  the  value  of 
the  service  rendered. 

But  the  relationships  between  the  races  still 
smack,  in  no  small  degree,  especially  in  matters 
of  social  contact  (always  the  last  to  change)  of  the 
old  feudal  character ;  they  are  personal  and  senti 
mental.  They  express  themselves  in  the  personal 
liking  for  the  old  "  mammies,"  in  the  personal 
contempt  for  the  "  smart  Negro." 

Another  reason  for  the  feeling  in  the  South  is 
that  it  has  never  had  any  other  labouring  class 
of  people  with  which  to  compare  the  Negro. 
All  the  employers  have  been  white ;  most  of 
the  workers  have  been  black.  The  North,  on 
the  other  hand,  has  had  a  constant  procession  of 
ignorant  working  people  of  various  sorts.  The 
North  is  familiar  with  the  progress  of  alien  peo 
ple,  wherein  the  working  man  of  to-day  becomes 
the  employer  of  to-morrow — and  this  has  not 
happened  in  the  South. 

An  illustration  of  the  confusion  between  the 


80       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

race  problem  and  the  labour  problem  is  pre 
sented  in  certain  Southern  neighbourhoods  by 
the  influx  of  European  immigrants.  Because 
the  Italian  does  the  work  of  the  Negro,  a  tend 
ency  exists  to  treat  him  like  a  Negro.  In  Louisi 
ana  on  the  sugar  plantations  Italian  white  worm  n 
sometimes  work  under  Negro  foremen  and  ro 
objection  is  made.  A  movement  was  actually 
under  way  in  Mississippi  to  keep  the  children  of 
Italian  immigrants  out  of  the  white  schools.  In 
not  a  few  instances  white  workmen  have  been 
held  in  peonage  like  Negroes.  Here  is  a  dispatch 
showing  how  new  Italian  immigrants  were  treated 
in  one  part  of  Mississippi — only  the  Italians,  un 
like  the  negroes,  have  an  active  government 
behind  them : 

Mobile,  Ala.,  October  3,  1910.— The  Italian 
Government  has  taken  notice  of  the  situation  at 
Sumrall,  Mississippi,  where  the  native  whites  are 
endeavouring  to  keep  Italian  children  out  of  the 
schools  and  where  a  leader  of  the  Italians  was 
taken  to  the  woods  and  whipped. 

The  Italian  consul  at  New  Orleans,  Count  G. 
Morroni,  reached  Mobile  this  afternoon  and 
began  an  investigation  of  the  situation.  He  to 
day  heard  the  story  of  Frank  Seaglioni,  the 
leader  of  the  Italian  colony  at  Sumrall,  who  was 
a  few  days  ago  decoyed  from  his  home  at  night 
with  a  bogus  message  from  New  Orleans  and 
unmercifully  whipped  by  a  mob  of  white  men. 

A  decided  tendency  also  exists  to  charge  up 


The  Problem  of  Race  81 

to  the  Negro,  because  he  is  a  Negro,  all  the 
crimes  which  are  commonly  committed  by  any 
ignorant,  poverty-stricken  people. 

I  was  struck  in  Philadelphia  by  a  presentment 
of  a  grand  jury  upon  the  subject  of  a  "  crime 
wave  "  which  read  thus  : 

In  closing  our  duties  as  jurymen,  we  wish  to 
call  to  the  attention  of  this  court  the  large  pro 
portion  of  cases  presented  to  us  for  action 
wherein  the  offenses  were  charged  to  either  per 
sons  of  foreign  birth  or  those  of  the  coloured 
race,  and  we  feel  that  some  measures  should  be 
taken  to  the  end  that  our  city  should  be  relieved 
of  both  the  burden  of  the  undesirable  alien  and 
the  irresponsible  coloured  person. 

Here,  it  will  be  seen,  the  "  undesirable  alien  " 
and  "  irresponsible  coloured  person  "  are  classed 
together,  although  it  is  significant  of  the  greater 
prejudice  against  the  coloured  man  that  the 
newspaper  report  of  the  grand  jury  should  be 
headed  "  Negro  Crime  Abnormal,"  without  re 
ferring  to  the  alien  at  all.  When  I  inquired  at 
the  prosecutor's  office  about  the  presentment  I 
was  told,  "  Oh,  the  Dagoes  are  just  as  bad  as  the 
Negroes."  And  both  are  bad,  not  because  they 
are  Negroes,  or  Italians,  but  because  they  are  ig 
norant,  neglected,  poverty-stricken. 

Thus  in  the  dust  and  confusion  of  the  vast 
readjustments  now  going  on  in  the  South,  the 


82       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

discomfort  of  which  both  races  feel  but  neither 
quite  understands,  we  have  the  white  man  blind. y 
blaming  the  Negro  and  the  Negro  blindly  hating 
the  white.  When  they  both  understand  that 
many  of  the  troubles  they  are  having  are  on  y 
the  common  gall-spots  of  the  new  industrial 
harness,  there  will  be  a  better  living  together. 

I  do  not  wish  to  imply,  of  course,  that  an  i.i- 
dustrial  age,  or  the  wage  system,  furnishes  an 
ideal  condition  for  race  relationships  ;  for  in  the 
North,  the  Negro's  struggle  for  survival  in  the 
competitive  field  is  accompanied  by  the  severest 
suffering.  The  condition  of  Negroes  in  Indian 
apolis,  New  York  and  Philadelphia  is  in  some 
ways  worse  than  it  is  anywhere  in  the  South. 
But,  say  what  we  will,  the  wage  system  is  one 
step  upward  from  the  old  feudalism.  The  Negro 
is  treated  less  like  a  slave  and  more  like  a  man 
in  the  North.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  Negroes, 
no  matter  what  may  be  their  difficulties  of  mak 
ing  a  living  in  the  North,  rarely  wish  to  go  back 
to  the  South.  And  as  the  South  develops  in 
dustrially  it  will  approximate  more  nearly  to 
Northern  conditions.  In  Southern  cities  to-day, 
because  of  industrial  development,  the  Negro  is 
treated  more  like  a  man  than  he  is  in  the  coun 
try  ;  and  this  is  one  reason  why  Negroes  crowd 
into  the  cities  and  can  rarely  be  persuaded  to  go 
back  into  the  country  unless  they  can  own  their 
own  land. 


The  Problem  of  Race  83 

But  the  South  is  rapidly  shaking  off  the  rem 
nants  of  the  old  feudalism.  Development  of 
mines  and  forests,  the  extension  of  manufactur 
ing,  the  introduction  of  European  immigrants, 
the  inflow  of  white  Northerners,  better  schools, 
more  railroads  and  telephones,  are  all  helping  to 
bring  the  South  up  to  the  economic  standard  of 
the  North.  There  will  be  a  further  breaking  up 
of  baronial  tenant-farming,  the  plantation  store 
will  disappear,  the  ruinous  credit  system  will  be 
abolished,  and  there  will  be  a  wide-spread  appear 
ance  of  independent  farm  owners,  both  white  and 
black.  This  will  all  tend  to  remove  the  personal 
and  sentimental  attitude  of  the  old  Southern  life  : 
the  Negro  will,  of  necessity,  be  judged  more  and 
more  as  a  man,  not  as  a  slave  or  dependent.  In 
short,  the  country,  South  and  North,  will  become 
economically  more  homogeneous. 

But  even  when  the  South  reaches  the  industrial 
development  of  the  North  the  Negro  problem 
will  not  be  solved  ;  it  is  certainly  not  solved  in 
New  York,  or  Philadelphia,  where  industrial  de 
velopment  has  reached  its  highest  form.  The 
prejudice  in  those  cities  has  been  growing  more 
intense  as  the  Negro  population  has  increased. 
What,  then,  will  happen? 

Two  elements  appear  in  every  race  problem  : 
the  first,  race  prejudice,  the  repulsion  of  the  un 
like  ;  second,  economic,  or  competitive,  jealousy. 
Both  operate,  for  example,  in  the  case  of  the 


84       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

Irishman,  or  the  Italian,  but  with  the  Negro  ard 
the  Chinaman  race  prejudice  is  greater  because 
the  difference  is  greater.  The  difficulty  of  the 
Negro  in  this  country  is  the  colour  of  his  skin, 
the  symbol  of  his  difference.  In  China  the  diffi 
culty  of  the  white  trader  is  his  whiteness,  his 
difference.  Race  lines,  in  short,  are  drawn  by 
white  men,  not  because  the  other  race  is  inferior, 
nor  because  of  criminality  (certain  classes  of  for 
eigners  are  more  criminal  in  our  large  cities  thc.n 
the  Negroes),  nor  because  of  laziness,  but  because 
of  discernible  physical  differences.  Dislike  or 
fear  of  a  different  people  is  more  or  less  instinc 
tive  in  all  men. 

A  tendency  has  existed  on  the  part  of  Northern 
students,  who  have  no  first-hand  knowledge  of 
the  masses  of  Negroes,  to  underestimate  the  force 
of  race  repulsion  ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  Southern 
student,  who  is  confronted  with  the  Negroes 
themselves,  is  likely  to  overestimate  racial  repul 
sion  and  underestimate  economic  competition  as 
a  cause  of  the  difficulty.  The  profoundest  ques 
tion,  indeed,  is  to  decide  how  much  of  the  so- 
called  problem  is  due  to  race  repulsion  and  how 
much  to  economic  competition. 

This  leads  us  to  the  most  sinister  phase  of  the 
race  problem.  As  I  have  said,  we  have  the  two 
elements  of  conflict :  instinctive  race  repulsion 
and  competitive  jealousy.  What  is  easier  for 
the  race  in  power,  the  white  race  in  this  country 


The  Problem  of  Race  85 

(the  yellow  race  in  Asia),  than  to  play  upon  race 
instinct  in  order  to  serve  selfish  ends  ?  How 
shrewdly  the  labour  union,  whether  in  San  Fran 
cisco  or  Atlanta,  seizes  upon  that  race  hatred  to 
keep  the  black  or  yellow  man  out  of  the  union 
and  thereby  control  all  the  work  for  its  members  ! 
Race  prejudice  played  upon  becomes  a  tool  in 
clinching  the  power  of  the  labour  monopoly. 

In  several  places  in  this  country  Negroes  have 
been  driven  out  by  mobs,  not  because  they  were 
criminal,  or  because  they  were  bad  citizens,  but 
because  they  were  going  into  the  grocery  and 
drug  business,  they  were  becoming  doctors, 
dentists,  and  the  like,  and  taking  away  the  trade 
of  their  white  competitors.  So  the  stores  and 
restaurants  of  highly  efficient  Japanese  have 
been  wrecked  in  San  Francisco. 

What  is  easier,  or  cruder,  to  use  as  a  weapon 
for  crushing  a  rival  than  the  instinctive  dislike  of 
man  for  man  ?  This  is  not  peculiar  to  the  white 
man.  In  Africa  the  black  man  wastes  no  time 
with  the  different  looking  white  man ;  he  kills 
him,  if  he  dares,  on  the  spot.  And  how  ably  the 
Chinaman  has  employed  the  instinctive  hatred  of 
his  countrymen  for  "  foreign  devils  "  in  order  to 
fight  American  trade  and  traders  !  We  hate  the 
Chinaman  and  drive  him  out,  and  he  hates  us 
and  drives  us  out. 

And  this  is  one  of  the  dangers  of  the  race 
problem — the  fostering  of  such  an  instinct  in 


86       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

order  to  make  money  or  to  get  political  office. 
Such  a  basis  of  personal  prosperity  is  all  tins 
more  dangerous  because  the  white  man  is  in 
undisputed  power  in  this  country  ;  the  Negro  has 
no  great  army  behind  him  ;  he  is  like  a  child  in 
the  house  of  a  harsh  parent.  All  that  stands 
between  him  and  destruction  is  the  ethical  sens-i 
of  the  white  man.  Will  the  white  man's  sens* 
of  justice  and  virtue  be  robust  enough  to  cause 
him  to  withhold  the  hand  of  unlimited  power  ? 
Will  he  see,  as  Booker  T.  Washington  says,  that 
if  he  keeps  the  Negro  in  the  gutter  he  must 
stay  there  with  him?  The  white  man  and  his 
civilization,  not  alone  the  Negro,  will  rise,  or  faU, 
by  that  ethical  test.  So  will  the  civilization  cf 
the  whole  world  rise  or  fall  in  accordance  witii 
the  treatment  bestowed  by  the  higher  races 
upon  the  lower  races. 

The  Negro,  on  his  part,  employs  the  same 
methods  as  the  white  man,  for  Negro  nature  is 
not  different  from  other  human  nature.  He 
argues,  "  The  white  man  hates  you  ;  hate  him. 
Trade  with  Negro  storekeepers  ;  employ  Negro 
doctors  ;  don't  go  to  white  dentists  and  lawyers." 
Hate  engenders  hate ;  sympathy  engenders 
sympathy. 

Out  of  this  condition  proceed  two  tendencies. 
The  first  is  the  natural  result  of  mutual  fear  and 
suspicion,  and  that  is  a  rapid  flying  apart  of  the 
rac^s.  The  Negroes  in  this  country  are  being 


The  Problem  of  Race  87 

segregated.  So  are  the  Chinese  segregated,  and 
the  blacks  in  South  Africa,  and  certain  classes  in 
India.  Parts  of  the  South  are  growing  blacker. 
Negroes  crowd  into  "  coloured  quarters  "  in  the 
cities.  More  and  more  they  are  becoming  a 
people  wholly  apart — separate  in  their  churches, 
separate  in  their  schools,  separate  in  cars,  con 
veyances,  hotels,  restaurants,  with  separate  pro 
fessional  men.  In  short,  we  discover  tendencies 
in  this  country  towards  the  development  of  a 
caste  system. 

One  of  the  most  striking  facts  in  our  recent 
history  is  the  progress  of  the  former  slave.  And 
this  finds  its  world  parallel  in  the  progress  of 
people  whom  the  vainglorious  Anglo-Saxon  once 
despised — the  Japanese,  Chinese,  and  East  In 
dians.  In  forty  years  the  Negro  has  advanced 
a  distance  that  would  have  been  surprising 
in  almost  any  race.  In  the  bare  accomplish 
ments — area  of  land  owned,  crops  raised,  profes 
sional  men  supported,  business  enterprises  con 
ducted,  books  and  poetry  written,  music  com 
posed,  pictures  painted — the  slaves  of  forty  years 
ago  have  made  the  most  astonishing  progress. 
This  leads  to  the  second  tendency,  which  pro 
ceeds  slowly  out  of  the  growing  conviction  that 
hatred  and  suspicion  and  fear  as  motives  in  either 
national  or  individual  progress  will  not  work; 
that  there  must  be  some  other  way  for  different 
people  to  work  side  by  side  in  peace  and  justice. 


88       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

And  thus  we  discover  a  tendency  towards  11 
friendly  living  together  under  the  new  relation 
ship,  in  which  the  negro  is  not  a  slave,  or  a 
dependent,  but  a  man  and  a  citizen.  Booker  T. 
Washington  preaches  the  gospel  of  this  new  life. 
And  gradually,  as  race  prejudice  becomes  incon 
venient,  threatens  financial  adversity,  ruffles  the 
smooth  current  of  comfortable  daily  existence, 
the  impulse  grows  to  set  it  aside.  Men  don't 
keep  on  fighting  when  it  is  no  longer  profitable 
to  fight. 

And  thus,  side  by  side,  these  two  impulses 
exist — the  one  pointing  towards  the  development 
of  a  hard  caste  system  which  would  ultimately 
petrify  our  civilization  as  it  has  petrified  that  of 
India;  and  the  other  looking  to  a  reasonable, 
kindly  and  honourable  working  together  of  the 
races. 

So  much  for  conditions  ;  what  of  remedies  ? 

I  have  heard  the  most  extraordinary  remedies 
proposed,  as  they  have  been  proposed  with 
reference  to  the  Chinese  and  Japanese.  Serious 
men  actually  talk  of  the  deportation  of  the  entire 
Negro  population  to  Africa,  not  stopping  to 
inquire  whether  we  have  any  right  to  deport 
them,  or  to  calculate  the  economic  revolution 
and  bankruptcy  which  the  deportation  of  the 
entire  labouring  class  would  cause  in  the  South ; 
without  stopping  to  think  that  even  if  we  could 
find  a  spot  in  the  world  for  10,000,000  Negroes, 


The  Problem  of  Race  89 

and  if  they  all  wanted  to  go,  that  all  the  ships 
flying  the  American  flag,  if  constantly  employed, 
could  probably  not  transport  the  natural  increase 
of  the  Negro  population,  let  alone  the  millions 
of  present  inhabitants.  I  have  heard  talk  of 
segregation  in  reservations,  like  the  Indians — 
segregation  out  of  existence !  I  have  even 
heard  unspeakable  talk  of  the  wholesale  extinc 
tion  of  the  race.  All  are  quack  remedies  and 
based  upon  hatred,  not  upon  justice. 

There  is  no  sudden,  or  cut-and-dried,  solu 
tion  of  the  Negro  problem,  or  of  any  problem. 
Men  are  forever  demanding  formulae  which  will 
enable  them  to  progress  mechanically.  They 
seek  to  do  quickly  by  medication  what  can  only 
be  accomplished  by  deliberate  hygiene.  A 
problem  that  has  been  growing  for  two  hundred 
and  fifty  years  in  America,  and  for  thousands  of 
years  before  that  in  Africa,  warping  the  very 
lives  of  the  people  concerned,  changing  their 
currents  of  thought  as  well  as  their  conduct, 
cannot  be  solved  in  forty  years.  Why  expect 
it? 

And  yet  there  are  definite  things  which  can  be 
done,  things  which,  while  working  no  immediate 
miracles,  will  set  our  faces  to  the  light  and  keep 
us  trudging  towards  the  true  goal. 

Down  at  the  bottom — it  seems  trite  but  it  is 
eternally  true — the  cause  of  the  race  problem, 
and  of  most  other  social  problems,  is  simply  lack 


90       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

of  understanding  and  sympathy  between  man  and 
man.  And  the  remedy  is  equally  simple  -a 
gradual  substitution  of  understanding  and  sym 
pathy  for  blind  repulsion  and  hatred. 

Consider,  for  example,  the  Atlanta  riot  of  1906. 
Increasing  misunderstanding  and  hatred  caused 
a  dreadful  explosion  and  bloodshed.  What 
happened  ?  Instantly  the  wisest  white  men  in 
Atlanta  invited  the  wisest  coloured  men  to  meet 
them.  They  got  together;  general  explanations 
followed.  They  found  that  there  had  been  error 
on  both  sides;  they  found  that  there  were  rea 
sonable  human  beings  on  both  sides.  One  of 
the  leading  white  men  said :  "  I  did  not  know 
there  were  any  such  broad-minded  Negroes  in 
the  South."  In  other  words,  they  tried  to  un 
derstand  and  sympathize  with  each  other.  Again 
and  again  men  may  be  found  hating  Negroes,  or 
Chinamen  or  "  Dagoes,"  and  yet  liking  some  in 
dividual  Negro,  or  Chinaman,  or  "  Dago."  On 
broader  acquaintance  they  see  that  Negroes  and 
Chinamen  are  human  beings  like  themselves,  full 
of  faults,  but  not  devoid  of  good  qualities. 

As  a  fundamental  proposition,  then,  it  will  be 
found  that  the  solution  of  the  Negro  problem  lies 
in  treating  the  Negro  more  and  more  as  a  human 
being.  We  must  judge  him,  not  by  his  colour, 
or  by  any  other  outward  symbol,  but  by  his 
worth  as  a  man.  Nothing  that  fails  of  full 
honesty  and  fairness  of  judgment  in  the  smallest 


The  Problem  of  Race  91 

particular  will  suffice.  We  disgrace  and  injure 
ourselves  more  than  we  do  the  Negro  when  we 
are  not  willing  to  admit  virtue,  or  learning,  or 
power,  in  another  human  being  because  his  face 
happens  to  be  yellow,  or  black. 

Of  the  soundness  of  this  fundamental  standard 
of  judgment  there  can  be  no  doubt;  the  difficulty 
lies  in  applying  it  practically  to  society  as  it  is 
to-day.  In  the  suggestions  which  I  offer  here  I 
am  trying  to  do  two  things :  to  outline  the  ex 
pedient  present  program,  and  to  keep  open  a 
clear  view  to  the  future  goal. 

Let  us  approach,  then,  and  without  fear,  the 
first  of  the  three  groups  of  problems — political, 
industrial,  and  social — which  confront  us. 

Shall  the  Negro  vote  ? 

Thousands  of  Negroes  in  this  country  are  fully 
as  well  equipped,  fully  as  patriotic,  as  the  average 
white  citizen.  Moreover,  they  are  as  much  con 
cerned  in  the  real  welfare  of  the  country.  The 
principle  that  our  forefathers  fought  for,  "  taxa 
tion  only  with  representation,"  is  as  true  to-day 
as  it  ever  was. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  vast  majority  of 
Negroes  (and  many  foreigners  and  "  poor 
whites ")  are  still  densely  ignorant,  and  have 
little  or  no  appreciation  of  the  duties  of  citizen 
ship.  It  seems  right  that  they  should  be  required 
to  wait  until  they  are  prepared  before  being  al 
lowed  to  vote.  A  wise  parent  hedges  his  son 


92       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

about  with  restrictions  ;  he  does  not  authorize  his 
signature  at  the  bank  or  allow  him  to  run  a  loco 
motive  ;  and  until  he  is  twenty-one  years  old  he 
is  disfranchised  and  has  no  part  in  the  govern 
ment.  But  the  parent  restricts  his  son  because 
it  seems  the  wisest  course  for  him,  for  the  family, 
and  for  the  state,  that  he  should  grow  to  man 
hood  before  he  is  burdened  with  grave  responsi 
bilities.  So  the  state  limits  suffrage ;  and  rightly 
limits  it,  so  long  as  it  accompanies  that  limitation 
with  a  determined  policy  of  education.  But  tie 
suffrage  law  is  so  executed  in  the  South  to-diiy 
as  to  keep  many  capable  Negroes  from  the  ex 
ercise  of  their  rights,  and  to  prevent  recognition 
of  honest  merit;  and  it  is  executed  unjustly  as 
between  white  men  and  coloured.  It  is  no  con- 
donement  of  the  Southern  position  to-day  to  say 
that  the  North  also  disfranchises  a  large  part  of 
the  Negro  vote  by  bribery,  which  it  does ;  it  is 
only  saying  that  the  North  is  also  wrong. 

As  for  the  agitation  for  the  repeal  of  the 
fifteenth  amendment  to  the  Federal  Constitution, 
which  gives  the  right  of  suffrage  to  the  coloured 
man,  it  must  be  met  by  every  lover  of  justice  and 
democracy  with  a  face  of  adamant.  If  there 
were  only  one  Negro  in  the  country  capable  of 
citizenship,  the  way  for  him  must,  at  least,  be 
kept  open.  No  doubt  full  suffrage  was  given  to 
the  mass  of  Negroes  before  they  were  prepared 
for  it,  while  yet  they  were  slaves  in  everything 


The  Problem  of  Race  93 

but  bodily  shackles,  and  the  result  during  the 
reconstruction  period  was  disastrous.  But  the 
principle  of  a  free  franchise — fortunately,  as  I  be 
lieve,  for  this  country — has  been  forever  estab 
lished.  If  the  white  man  is  not  willing  to  meet 
the  Negro  fairly  in  any  contest  whatsoever  then  he 
is  not  the  superior  but  the  inferior  of  the  Negro. 

So  much  for  the  political  relationships  of  the 
races.  How  about  the  industrial  relationships  ? 

The  same  test  of  inherent  worth  must  here 
also  apply,  and  the  question  will  not  be  settled 
until  it  does  apply.  A  carpenter  must  not  be 
asked,  "  What  colour  are  you  ? "  but,  "  How 
efficiently  can  you  build  a  house  ?  "  Of  all  ab 
surdities,  the  judgment  of  the  skill  of  a  surgeon 
by  the  kink  of  his  hair  will  certainly  one  day  be 
looked  upon  as  the  most  absurd.  The  same  ob 
servation  applies  broadly  to  the  attempt  to  con 
fine  a  whole  people,  regardless  of  their  capabili 
ties,  to  menial  occupation  because  they  are  dark- 
coloured.  No,  the  place  of  the  Negro  is  the  place 
he  can  fill  most  efficiently,  and  the  longer  we  at 
tempt  to  draw  artificial  lines  the  longer  we  shall 
delay  the  solution  of  the  race  problem.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  Negro  must  not  clamour  for 
places  he  cannot  yet  fill. 

"  The  trouble  with  the  Negro,"  says  Booker  T. 
Washington,  "  is  that  he  is  all  the  time  trying  to 
get  recognition,  whereas  what  he  should  do  is  to 
get  something  to  recognize." 


94       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

As  a  class  to-day  Negroes  are  far  inferior  in 
education,  intelligence,  and  efficiency  to  1:he 
white  people  as  a  class.  Here  and  there  an 
able  Negro  will  develop  superior  abilities ;  but 
the  mass  of  Negroes  for  years  to  come  must  find 
their  activities  most  in  physical,  and  more  or  l^ss 
menial,  labour.  Like  any  race,  they  must  first 
prove  themselves  in  these  simple  lines  of  work 
before  they  can  expect  larger  opportunities. 

There  must  always  be  men  like  Dr.  DuBois 
who  agitate  for  rights ;  their  service  is  an  impor 
tant  one,  but  at  the  present  time  it  seems  that 
the  thing  most  needed  is  the  teaching  of  such 
men  as  Dr.  Washington,  emphasizing  duties  and 
responsibilities,  urging  the  Negro  to  prepare 
himself  for  his  rights. 

We  come  now,  having  considered  the  political 
and  industrial  relationships  of  the  races,  to  the 
most  difficult  and  perplexing  of  all  the  phases  of 
the  Negro  question — that  of  social  contact.  Po 
litical  and  industrial  relationships  are  more  or 
less  outward,  but  social  contact  turns  upon  the 
delicate  and  deep  questions  of  home  life,  per 
sonal  inclinations,  and  of  privileges  rather  than 
rights.  It  is  always  in  the  relationships  of  oldest 
development,  like  those  that  cling  around  the 
home,  that  human  nature  is  slowest  to  change. 
Indeed,  much  of  the  complexity  of  the  Negro 
problem  has  arisen  from  a  confusion  in  people's 
minds  between  rights  and  privileges. 


The  Problem  of  Race  95 

Social  contact  is  a  privilege,  not  a  right ;  it  is 
not  a  subject  for  legislation  or  for  any  other  sort 
of  force.  "  Social  questions,"  as  Colonel  Wat- 
terson  of  Kentucky  says,  "  create  their  own  laws 
and  settle  themselves.  They  cannot  be  forced." 
All  such  relationships  will  work  themselves  out 
gradually,  naturally,  quietly,  in  the  long  course 
of  the  years ;  and  the  less  they  are  talked  about 
the  better. 

As  for  laws  against  the  intermarriage  of  the 
races,  they  do  not  prevent  what  they  are  de 
signed  to  prevent — the  mixing  of  white  and  col 
oured  blood.  In  many  parts  of  the  South,  de 
spite  the  existence  of  such  laws,  miscegenation, 
though  decreasing,  still  continues.  On  the  other 
hand,  in  the  North,  where  Negroes  and  whites 
may  marry,  there  is  actually  very  little  inter 
marriage  and  practically  no  concubinage.  The 
solution  of  this  question,  too,  lies  far  more  in 
education  than  in  law.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
more  education  both  races  receive,  the  less  the 
amalgamation.  In  the  South,  as  in  the  North, 
the  present  tendency  of  the  educated  and  pros 
perous  Negroes  is  to  build  up  a  society  of  their 
own,  entirely  apart  from  and  independent  of 
white  people.  A  white  woman  in  the  North 
who  marries  a  Negro  is  declassed — ostracized  by 
both  races.  The  danger  of  amalgamation  lies 
with  ignorant  and  vicious  people,  black  or  white, 
not  with  educated  and  sensitive  people. 


96       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

Separate  schools  in  some  sections  are  expedi 
ent,  and  often  I  believe  them  to  be  of  great  ad 
vantage  to  the  Negroes  themselves.  That  the 
pupils  in  each  should  be  treated  with  exact  jus 
tice  in  the  matter  of  expenditures  by  the  state  is 
axiomatic.  And  the  Negro  boy  should  have  the 
same  unbounded  opportunity  for  any  sort  of 
education  he  is  capable  of  using  as  the  white 
boy ;  nothing  less  will  suffice. 

One  influence,  at  present  growing  rapidly,  will 
have  its  profound  effect  on  the  separation  laws. 
Though  a  tendency  exists  towards  local  segrega 
tion  of  Negroes,  there  is  also  a  counter-tendency 
towards  a  scattering  of  Negroes  throughout  the 
entire  country.  The  white  population  in  the 
South,  now  20,000,000  against  9,000,000  Ne 
groes,  is  increasing  much  more  rapidly  than  the 
Negro  population.  The  death-rate  of  Negroes  is 
exceedingly  high ;  and  the  sharper  the  condi 
tions  of  competition  with  white  workers,  the 
greater,  probably,  will  be  the  limitation  of  in 
crease  of  the  more  inefficient  Negro  population. 

As  for  the  predictions  of  "  amalgamation,"  "  a 
mongrel  people,"  "  black  domination  "  and  other 
bogies  of  prophecy,  we  must  not,  as  I  see  it,  give 
them  any  weight  whatsoever.  We  cannot  regu 
late  our  short  lives  by  the  fear  of  something  far 
in  the  future  that  will  probably  never  happen  at 
all.  All  we  can  do  is  to  do  right  at  this  moment 
and  let  the  future  take  care  of  itself;  it  will,  any- 


The  Problem  of  Race  97 

way.  There  is  no  other  method  of  procedure. 
Much  as  we  may  desire  it,  the  future  arrange 
ment  of  this  universe  is  not  in  our  hands.  As 
to  the  matter  of  "  superiority,"  or  "  inferiority," 
it  is  not  a  subject  of  argument  at  all ;  nor  can  we 
keep,  or  attain,  "  superiority  "  by  laws  or  colour 
lines,  or  in  any  other  way,  except  by  being 
superior.  If  we  are  right,  absolutely  right,  in 
the  eternal  principles,  we  can  rest  in  peace  that 
the  matter  of  our  superiority  will  take  care  of  it 
self. 

I  remember  asking  a  wise  Southern  man  what, 
in  his  opinion,  were  the  chief  factors  in  the  solu 
tion  of  the  Negro  problem. 

"  Time,"  he  said,  "  and  patience." 

But  time  must  be  occupied  with  discipline  and 
education — more  and  more  education,  not  less, 
education  that  will  teach,  first  of  all,  the  dignity 
of  service,  not  only  for  Negroes  but  for  white 
men.  The  white  man,  South  and  North,  needs 
it  quite  as  much  as  the  coloured  man.  The 
wisest  Southerners  have  resolved  to  forget  the 
discouragements  and  complexities  of  the  Negro 
problem,  forget  even  their  disagreements,  and  go 
to  work  on  present  problems — the  development 
of  education  and  industry. 

Whether  we  like  it  or  not  the  whole  nation 
(indeed,  the  whole  world)  is  tied  by  unbreakable 
bonds  to  its  Negroes,  its  Chinamen,  its  slum- 
dwellers,  its  thieves,  its  murderers,  its  prostitutes. 


98       Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

We  cannot  elevate  ourselves  by  driving  them 
back  either  with  hatred  or  violence  or  neglect 
but  only  by  bringing  them  forward ;  by  service, 
by  sympathy. 

For  good  comes  to  men,  not  as  they  work 
alone,  but  as  they  work  together,  with  that  sym 
pathy  and  understanding  which  is  the  only  true 
democracy.  The  Great  Teacher  never  preached 
the  flat  equality  of  men,  social  or  otherwise.  He 
gave  mankind  a  working  principle  by  means  of 
which,  being  so  different — some  white,  some 
black,  some  yellow,  some  old,  some  young,  some 
men,  some  women,  some  accomplished,  some 
stupid — mankind  could,  after  all,  live  together  in 
harmony  and  develop  to  the  utmost  possibility. 
And  that  principle  was  the  Golden  Rule.  It  is 
the  least  sentimental,  the  most  profoundly  prac 
tical  teaching,  known  to  men. 


IV 

THE  CHURCH  AND  SOCIAL  QUES 
TIONS 

Prof.  Walter  C.  Rauschenbtisch 

Author  of  "  Christianity  and  the  Social  Crisis,"  "  For 
God  and  the  People,"  etc. 


A  PRATER  FOR  WOMEN  WHO  TOIL1 

O  God,  we  pray  Thee  for  our  sisters  who  are  leavirg 
the  ancient  shelter  of  the  home  to  earn  their  wage  in  the 
factory  and  the  store  amid  the  press  of  modern  life.  Sa\>e 
them  from  the  strain  of  unremitting  toil  that  would  unfit 
them  for  the  holy  duties  of  home  and  motherhood  which  the 
future  may  lay  upon  them.  Give  them  grace  to  cheri.h 
under  the  new  surroundings  the  old  sweetness  and  gentie- 
ness  of  womanhood,  and  in  the  rough  mingling  of  life  to 
keep  their  hearts  pure  and  their  lives  untarnished.  Sa-;e 
them  from  the  terrors  of  utter  want.  Teach  them  to  stand 
loyally  by  their  sisters,  that  by  united  action  they  may  bt  t- 
ter  their  common  lot. 

If  it  must  be  so  that  our  women  toil  like  men,  help  us 
still  to  reverence  in  them  the  mothers  of  the  future.  But 
make  us  determined  to  shield  them  from  unequal  burde?.  s, 
that  the  women  of  our  nation  be  not  drained  of  strength 
and  hope  for  the  enrichment  of  a  few,  lest  our  homes  grow 
poor  in  the  wifely  sweetness  and  motherly  love  which  have 
been  the  saving  strength  and  glory  of  our  country.  To 
such  as  yearn  for  the  love  and  sovereign  freedom  of  their 
own  home,  grant  in  due  time  the  fulfilment  of  their  sweet 
desires.  By  Mary,  the  beloved,  who  bore  the  world's  re 
demption  in  her  bosom ;  by  the  memory  of  our  own  dear 
mothers  who  kissed  our  souls  awake  ;  by  the  little  daughters 
who  must  soon  go  out  into  the  world  which  we  are  now 
fashioning  for  others,  we  beseech  Thee  that  we  may  deal 
aright  by  all  women. 

1  From  "  For  God  and  the  People,"  by  Prof.  Walter  C.  Rausch- 
enbusch.  Published  by  the  Pilgrim  Press.  Copyright,  1909 
and  1910  by  the  Phillips  Publishing  Company.  Copyright, 
1910,  by  Luther  H.  Gary. 


IV 
THE  CHURCH  AND  SOCIAL  QUESTIONS 

THE  church  is  meant  to  be  a  fellowship 
of  men  and  women  who  have  the  faith 
of  Jesus  Christ  in  their  hearts  and  are 
actuated  in  their  lives  by  His  spirit.  In  a  fellow 
ship  of  such  people  the  spirit  of  Jesus  ought  to 
find  its  purest  social  expression.  The  great 
charter  of  ^the  church  is  the  Master's  promise 
that  "  where  two  or  three  "  are  gathered  in  His 
name,  He  will  be  "  in  the  midst "  of  them.  That 
means  that  even  in  the  smallest  community  of 
believers  there  is  a  possibility  of  spiritual  bless 
ing  and  power  transcending  the  experiences  of  a 
solitary  religious  life.  In  this  fellowship  His  dis 
ciples  are  to  learn  to  think  His  thoughts,  to  love 
what  He  loves,  to  impart  His  mind  to  others, 
and  to  act  according  to  His  laws. 

This  has  always  been  the  ideal  of  the  church. 
But,  in  fact,  great  Christian  churches  have  often 
been  actuated  by  motives  wholly  unlike  those  of 
Jesus,  by  superstition,  self-seeking,  and  bitterness. 
They  have  often  exerted  their  full  strength  only 
to  crush  out  those  who  were  seeking  in  some 
conspicuous  way  to  live  according  to  the  mind 
and  law  of  Christ,  so  that  many  chapters  of 
church  history  are  sad  reading. 
101 


1G2     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

We  may  take  comfort,  however,  in  remember 
ing  that  the  sins  of  the  church  are  the  common 
sins  of  human  institutions ;  for  instance,  the 
family  in  its  ideal  is  the  purest  expression  of  hu 
man  love.  Yet  in  how  many  cases  it  has  been  a 
torture  chamber  where  an  evil  will  has  had  its 
way  in  wrecking  love  !  So  the  school  should  be 
the  great  institution  for  awakening  young  mind;* 
to  creative  independence  and  ability.  Yet 
through  long  stretches  of  time  it  has  been  the 
playground  of  pedantry,  in  which  the  free  initi 
ative  of  the  young  has  been  discouraged  and  a 
dreary  uniformity  encouraged.  In  the  same 
way,  the  state  should  be  the  organization  of  men 
for  justice.  Yet  the  survival  of  tyranny  in  Russia 
and  Turkey  reminds  us  that  the  state  has  actually 
been,  to  a  large  extent,  the  preserver  of  injustice 
and  the  determined  opponent  of  a  free  and  hu 
mane  social  life. 

But  the  sins  of  the  church  in  the  past  need 
not  make  us  despair  of  its  redemptive  power. 
They  should  make  us  all  the  more  determined 
henceforth  to  hold  it  to  its  Christlike  purposes, 
and  to  swing  its  immeasurable  moral  power  to 
the  service  of  those  whom  the  Master  loved  and 
served. 

Our  own  American  evangelical  churches  have 
been  nobly  faithful  in  two  directions.  They  have 
recognized  their  obligation  to  create  Christian 
personalities  by  evangelism  and  by  Christian  edu- 


The  Church  and  Social  Questions    103 

cation ;  and  they  have  felt  the  responsibility  of 
organizing  the  social  life  within  the  churches  ac 
cording  to  Christ's  law,  by  making  soberness, 
purity,  gentleness,  equality,  love  and  helpfulness 
real  within  their  own  walls.  These  two  aims 
must  always  remain  among  the  fundamental 
tasks  of  the  churches,  and  of  Home  Mission 
work,  and  nothing  that  will  be  said  in  this  dis 
cussion  should  be  understood  as  in  the  least  be 
littling  these  accepted  duties. 

But  to-day  the  conscience  of  the  church  is  dis 
quieted  with  an  increasing  sense  of  a  vaster  obli 
gation.  It  feels  that  the  mighty  spirit  of  Christ 
must  not  only  shape  the  life  within  the  church, 
but  must  go  out  from  it  as  a  centre  of  power  to 
transform  the  social  life  about  it.  It  can  never 
again  rest  content  until  it  has  created  a  truly 
human  and  normal  life  in  humanity.  The  recog 
nition  of  this  duty  is  swiftly  penetrating  all  really 
awakened  hearts  in  our  country.  Within  recent 
years  we  have  witnessed  a  strange  revival  of 
Christianity,  a  social  awakening  of  the  church. 

This  awakening  has  come  largely  through  a 
new  sense  of  sin.  We  have  been  appalled  by 
sins  on  a  gigantic  scale  which  pervade  our  whole 
nation,  and  by  their  bitter  fruit.  "  Conservation  " 
has  suddenly  become  a  popular  cry.  It  ex 
presses  the  feeling  that  cherished  possessions  of 
our  nation  are  in  danger,  and  that  all  moral 
forces  must  be  rallied  to  preserve  even  what  we 


104     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

now  have.  In  fact,  the  wisest  observers  of  our 
national  life  agree  that  the  ideals  of  American 
Christianity  are  in  danger  of  rapid  disintegration, 
and  that  the  vast  latent  forces  of  the  church  of 
Christ  must  be  summoned  to  the  rescue.  The 
title  of  this  book  expresses  this  feeling. 

But  neither  Christianity  nor  America  should 
be  content  merely  to  conserve  the  ideals  of  o  jr 
country  as  they  were  held  in  the  past.  We 
should  extend  their  scope  and  deepen  their  ap 
plication.  As  the  human  body  grows,  the  heart, 
which  is  to  send  the  warm  and  nourishing  blood 
through  all  its  organs,  must  grow  with  it.  A.ll 
the  organizations  of  our  social  body  are  takir  g 
on  a  vaster  size  and  they  need  a  more  powerful 
injection  of  the  vital  forces  of  Christianity. 

This  task  of  Christianizing  our  national  life  is 
the  special  task  of  the  Home  Mission  organiza 
tions  in  the  churches,  for  they  represent  the  com 
bined  and  intelligent  purpose  of  the  church  for 
all  Christian  work  within  our  nation.  The  gen 
eral  comprehension  of  what  is  involved  in  the 
work  of  Foreign  Missions  and  in  the  work  of 
Christian  education  has  passed  through  a  marvel 
lous  expansion  in  recent  years.  Our  conception 
of  what  is  involved  in  Home  Missions  should 
likewise  expand  with  our  increasing  scientific 
comprehension  of  human  life  and  with  our  en 
larging  means. 

It  has  been  forcibly  brought  home  to  us  that 


The  Church  and  Social  Questions    105 

the  forces  which  are  disintegrating  our  social 
life,  our  morality  and  our  religious  ideals  have 
their  chief  source  in  our  industrial  and  commer 
cial  life.  Our  industry  and  commerce,  splendid 
as  their  external  achievements  have  been,  are  the 
realm  of  human  life  which  has  been  least  effected 
by  the  law  of  Christ.  It  is  here  that  the  regen 
erating  and  constructive  forces  of  the  Christian 
spirit  are  most  urgently  needed.  The  following 
discussion  is  to  offer  some  suggestion  in  this  di 
rection. 

I  shall  enumerate  a  few  of  the  ideals  which 
have  in  the  past  been  generally  accepted  by  our 
Christian  people  as  the  common  and  self-evident 
ideals  of  American  life.  All  of  these  are  now  in 
danger.  All  of  them  have  religious  significance. 
In  the  conservation  of  all  of  them,  therefore,  the 
church  should  take  a  profound  interest. 

I.  One  of  the  finest  ideals  of  American  life 
has  been  its  democracy.  The  democratic  ideal 
has  been  embodied  in  the  political  organization 
of  our  Republic.  The  constitutions  of  our  states 
and  of  the  Union  seek  to  safeguard  it.  But  our 
political  democracy  is  only  one  expression  of  our 
pervasive  democratic  ideal.  It  comes  even  closer 
home  to  us  in  ordinary  daily  intercourse.  It  has 
been  an  accepted  principle  in  our  country  that 
we  have  no  social  classes.  None  is  to  cringe  to 
those  above  ;  none  is  to  step  on  the  back  of  those 


106     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

below.  And,  in  fact,  in  our  best  American  com 
munities  there  has  been  a  fine  sense  of  equal  ty 
among  men,  a  consciousness  of  personal  worth 
that  dignified  even  the  poorest  and  humblest. 
On  the  other  hand,  in  European  life,  the  exist 
ence  of  social  classes  is  accepted  as  a  matter  of 
course.  Great  churches  and  political  parties  in 
sist  on  the  maintenance  of  class  divisions  a^  a 
sacred  principle.  The  problems  created  by  ck.ss 
barriers  and  class  feeling  are  an  unfailing  theme 
of  literature.  But  in  this  matter  Jesus  is  on  the 
side  of  America.  One  of  the  fundamental  la'vs 
He  laid  down  for  His  followers  is  that  they  mi.st 
seek  for  no  greatness  that  lords  it  over  othe /s, 
and  that  they  shall  call  no  man  master,  but  shall 
regard  all  men  as  brothers. 

There  is  no  denying  the  fact  that  our  democ 
racy  has  been  weakened  in  recent  years,  both  in 
our  political  life  and  in  our  social  intercourse. 
In  politics  the  will  of  the  people  has  been  so  per 
sistently  frustrated  that  every  successful  assertion 
of  it  has  been  hailed  as  a  great  triumph.  In 
social  life  the  extremes  of  wealth  and  poverty 
have  grown  wider  and  wider  apart,  and  the  sense 
of  equality  has  been  put  to  an  ever  greater  strain 
by  the  solid  facts  of  life.  Social  classes  have  been 
formed,  and  have  become  so  different  in  habits  of 
mind  and  point  of  view,  that  social  explorers  dive 
down  for  months  among  the  working  people  and 
come  back  to  write  books  about  this  unknown 


The  Church  and  Social  Questions    107 

race  that  lives  in  the  next  block.  Thus  our 
democracy,  which  is  an  essential  part  of  our  Chris 
tian  and  our  American  ideals,  is  disintegrating, 
and  we  are  all  in  danger  of  hypocrisy  when  we  pro 
fess  it  with  our  lips  and  contradict  it  in  our  lives. 

In  view  of  this  encroachment  on  one  of  our 
finest  ideals,  the  church  should  strike  with 
enthusiasm  on  behalf  of  democracy.  It  should, 
first  of  all,  set  its  own  house  in  order,  so  that  class 
differences  are  not  allowed  in  the  churches.  It  is 
a  wholesome  symptom  that  the  pew  system, 
which  we  inherited  from  aristocratic  times,  has 
either  been  abolished  or  largely  stripped  of  its 
undemocratic  features.  An  eminent  minister  in 
Hamburg,  Germany,  tells  of  his  early  attempts  to 
reach  the  people  by  social  church  gatherings. 
The  class  differences  proved  insuperable  ;  each 
social  class  had  to  meet  by  itself.  So  there  were 
three  kinds  of  teas  ;  in  the  first  the  tea  was  served 
in  thick  cups ;  in  the  second  in  thin  cups ;  and  in 
the  third  from  a  silver  tea-urn.  Imagine  Jesus 
being  invited ! 

In  its  teachings,  too,  the  church  should  in 
culcate  democracy  as  a  distinctly  Christian  virtue. 
In  fact,  no  person  is  a  mature  Christian  whose 
soul  still  bows  in  unquestioning  consent  to  the 
class  spirit.  We  may  have  to  conform  to  social 
usages,  but  we  should  at  least  be  inwardly  eman 
cipated,  and  lodge  our  protest  when  it  can  be 
done  effectively. 


io8     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

The  duty  of  democratizing  social  intercourse 
lies  chiefly  at  the  door  of  the  women  of  our 
country,  for  all  social  customs  are  almost  wholly 
in  their  control.  If  our  ideals  fail  at  this  point, 
the  women  will  be  responsible.  And  they  need 
awakening.  Women  excel  men  in  some  of  the 
virtues,  but  they  seem  to  take  more  naturally 
than  men  to  class  pride  and  class  distinctions. 
To  that  extent  they  are  still  living  in  a  feudal 
age  and  have  not  yet  become  modern  and  Chi  is- 
tian. 

The  church  should  also  set  itself  against  ar  y- 
thing  in  our  industrial  organization  which  cows 
the  workers  or  weakens  their  sense  of  worth,  and 
it  should  favour  every  step  in  our  industrial  evo  u- 
tion  that  will  render  the  workers  more  self- 
reliant  and  capable.  One  chief  means  for  this  is 
their  trade  organizations.  There  will  be  no  full 
application  of  the  democratic  ideal  to  our  modern 
industrial  relations  until  the  workers  can  control 
their  own  affairs  through  their  own  organiza 
tions.  If  they  are  wholly  dependent  on  the  will 
of  their  employers,  even  if  that  will  is  wise  and 
benevolent,  it  is  not  American  democracy.  It 
is  recognized  by  all  impartial  students  of  the 
question  that  the  trades  unions  have  been  one 
of  the  most  important  means  of  securing  better 
wages,  shorter  hours,  and  better  shop  condi 
tions.  But  perhaps  an  even  greater  benefit  is 
this,  that  in  and  through  the  organizations  the 


The  Church  and  Social  Questions    109 

men  have  learned  self-reliance,  obedience  to 
discipline,  mutual  helpfulness,  and  an  intelligent 
comprehension  of  their  own  class  problems. 

2.  It  has  been  one  of  our  American  ideals 
that  every  family  shall  be  able  to  acquire 
property  to  shelter  it  and  to  aid  in  winning  the 
livelihood  of  the  family.  The  early  American 
ideal  was  that  a  farmer  should  till  his  own  farm, 
and  the  mechanic  work  in  his  own  shop  and 
with  his  own  tools.  Every  capable  young  man 
used  to  work  with  that  end  in  full  view.  The 
Homestead  Law  was  prompted  by  the  concep 
tion  that  every  citizen  could  claim  a  share  of  the 
national  domain,  from  which  he  might  win 
sustenance  for  his  family  and  thus  rise  to  com 
fort. 

That  ideal,  too,  has  drifted  out  of  sight. 
There  has  been  a  tremendous  absorption  of  the 
natural  means  of  production  by  a  limited  class  of 
men.  Some  individuals  have  acquired  so  much 
that  they  break  down  physically  in  the  work  of 
managing  it.  Their  nobler  traits  become  barren 
"  by  the  cares  of  this  world  and  the  deceitfulness 
of  riches,"  and  their  families  are  often  weakened 
by  idleness  and  luxury. 

But  the  necessary  counterpart  of  this  unhealth- 
ful  wealth  on  one  side  is  the  unwholesome 
poverty  on  the  other  side.  The  percentage  of 
farmers  who  are  simply  tenants  is  increasing 


no     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

rapidly,  and  will  henceforth  increase  steadily. 
In  the  cities  the  great  majority  of  families  live  in 
rented  houses,  or  tenements,  and  have  no  hope  of 
ever  owning  their  own  homes.  In  our  factories 
the  mechanics  are  no  longer  working  \vith  their 
own  tools,  but  with  huge  machines  which  they 
can  never  own. 

This  growing  inequality  in  the  distribution  of 
property  is  a  most  serious  menace  to  Christ  an 
and  American  ideals  of  a  sound  and  wholesome 
life.  We  have  given  our  citizens  political  liberty. 
But  liberty  without  some  property  to  back  it  is 
an  illusion.  Men  are  not  free  who  are  in  abject 
dependence  for  the  very  chance  to  work.  Every 
child  in  our  community  should  be  born  with 
some  right  to  the  wealth  of  the  community  as 
well  as  to  the  freedom  of  the  community,  just  as 
in  our  families.  It  is  not  in  accordance  with 
American  ideals  that  of  two  babes  born  in  the 
same  hour  one  should  be  born  in  poverty  and 
destined  to  poverty,  while  the  other  is  dowered 
at  birth  with  unearned  wealth  sufficient  to  edu 
cate  and  develop  hundreds  of  other  children  who 
must  remain  in  poverty  and  ignorance  while 
that  babe  is  corrupted  by  its  excess. 

Justice  is  obedience  to  God's  will ;  the  sternest 
words  of  the  Old  Testament  prophets  were 
directed  against  injustice  and  the  oppression  of 
the  poor.  No  sin  except  hypocrisy  received  so 
much  attention  in  the  teachings  of  Jesus.  To- 


The  Church  and  Social  Questions    ill 

day  there  is  an  earnest  will  to  remedy  the  most 
serious  forms  of  injustice  in  the  distribution  of 
the  common  wealth  of  the  nation,  and  the  church 
of  Christ  should  reenforce  that  will  by  her  intelli 
gent  sympathy  and  aid. 

3.  It  has  been  one  of  the  proudest  ideals  of 
American  life  that  here  every  man  shall  have  a 
chance  to  "  rise  in  life."  The  relish  of  life  comes 
not  so  much  from  what  we  are  and  have,  but  from 
what  we  are  coming  to  be  and  have.  To  have  a 
sense  of  enlarging  powers  and  tasks,  to  feel  our 
personality  and  its  influence  growing  and  rising, 
to  have  a  big  hope  that  leads  us  on,  and  to  see 
it  attained  bit  by  bit,  that  makes  up  the  satisfac 
tion  of  a  real  life.  That  chance  for  the  expan 
sion  of  life  is  also  a  Christian  ideal,  for  the  salva 
tion  and  sanctification  of  a  man  mean  that  he 
shall  become  a  real  man,  with  an  unending  ca 
pacity  for  real  growth  within  him. 

But  it  is  felt  by  a  large  class  of  our  population 
that  the  chance  to  rise  in  life  is  more  and  more 
rare.  Clerks  and  artisans  early  reach  the  limit 
of  the  wages  which  they  are  likely  to  earn,  un 
less  they  have  unusual  managing  ability.  Fac 
tory  workers  often  reach  the  maximum  early  in 
youth,  while  their  muscles  are  most  supple  and 
dexterous,  and  after  that  they  can  look  forward 
only  to  a  decline,  and  perhaps  to  the  loss  of 
their  job  when  they  are  still  in  middle  life. 


1 1 2     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

Such  a  condition  paralyzes  the  hopefulness 
and  vigour  of  the  individual,  and  if  it  becomes 
the  permanent  condition  of  large  classes  it  v/ill 
mean  the  failure  of  one  of  our  American  ideals.. 

4.  The  enthusiasm  for  education  has  been 
one  of  the  marked  features  of  American  Chi  is- 
tianity.  It  was  implanted  in  our  national  tradi 
tions  by  the  great  Puritan  community  in  N-w 
England,  which  numbered  a  most  unusual  per 
centage  of  educated  men,  who  appreciated  the 
value  of  the  intellectual  life.  Our  communities 
spend  more  for  the  education  of  the  young  than 
for  any  other  item  of  their  housekeeping.  The 
great  gifts  of  wealthy  men  and  women  for  ecu- 
cation  prove  that  they  regard  education  as  one 
of  the  best  forms  of  public  service.  And  the 
great  sacrifices  brought  by  the  American 
churches  for  the  founding  of  institutions  of 
higher  education  show  that  the  educational  pas 
sion  in  America  has  been  at  the  same  time  a 
religious  ideal. 

It  is  not  enough  to-day  if  we  simply  maintain 
the  traditional  school  age.  Our  national  wealth 
has  increased  immensely.  We  have  inherited 
school  buildings,  libraries,  and  intellectual  re 
sources  from  our  fathers,  which  make  the  task  of 
education  relatively  far  easier  for  us.  We  should 
steadily  lengthen  the  time  of  education  and 
increase  the  free  opportunities  for  it.  Suppose 


The  Church  and  Social  Questions    113 

that  the  descendants  of  some  settler  in  the  West 
had  gradually  risen  out  of  the  early  poverty  of 
their  grandparents  and  were  indulging  them 
selves  in  Brussels  carpet,  a  piano,  and  an  auto 
car.  Would  they  have  a  right  to  feel  that  they 
were  conserving  the  old  educational  ideals  of  the 
family  if  they  simply  continued  to  send  their 
children  to  the  district  school,  as  the  grandpar 
ents  did  in  the  early,  toilsome  days  ?  Yet  that 
is  the  position  of  our  nation  if  we  allow  education 
to  cease  for  the  great  majority  of  children  at 
fourteen,  or  even  at  twelve. 

Of  course  "  education  "  is  not  synonymous 
with  bookishness.  As  the  child  matures,  educa 
tion  should  become  more  and  more  practical  and 
specialized.  The  school  must  establish  friendly 
cooperation  with  the  workshop.  But  if  we 
want  to  be  true  to  the  ancient  American  ideals 
under  modern  conditions,  we  must  give  our 
children  an  increasing  period  for  unhampered 
growth  of  body  and  mind. 

The  most  serious  competitor  of  the  school  to 
day  is  our  industry.  The  school  tries  to  hold 
the  child,  but  the  shop  wants  it.  Competitive 
industry  is  always  seeking  to  cheapen  produc 
tion.  It  craves  cheaper  labour.  Children  are 
cheap.  Our  great  iron,  slaves  are  able  to  run 
with  only  a  child  to  tend  them.  The  poverty 
and  ignorance  of  parents  on  the  one  side,  and 
the  demand  for  cheap  labour  on  the  other  side, 


114     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

create  a  condition  that  always  menaces  the  child 
and  the  American  ideal  of  education.  Unless 
the  community  throws  its  protecting  arm  abo  at 
the  child,  it  will  be  devoured. 

Here  is  a  matter  in  which  the  selfish  instincts 
of  our  industrial  life  need  especially  to  be  counter 
acted  by  the  humane  and  far-sighted  impulses 
created  by  our  religion.  The  churches  should 
join  the  trades  unions  and  the  schools  in  forcing 
back  child  labour.  It  should  be  part  of  tiie 
settled  policy  of  Home  Missions  to  save  the 
child,  not  only  from  private  vice  and  parental 
ignorance,  but  also  from  the  demands  of  a  busi 
ness  system,  the  very  soul  of  which  is  the  desire 
for  gain. 

Moreover,  this  object  comes  home  to  women 
above  all.  The  mother  instinct  is  but  a  narrow 
thing  if  a  woman  forgets  all  other  children  and 
loves  only  her  own.  Her  experiences  as  a  mother 
have  done  their  work  on  her  soul  only  if  they 
have  broadened  her  intelligence  and  sympathy 
for  all  child-life.  When  a  woman  is  through 
raising  her  own  brood,  she  should  graduate  to 
the  high  school  of  motherhood  and  care  for  all 
children  within  her  reach.  And  if  she  has  never 
carried  the  heavy  burdens  of  maternity,  she  is 
under  bonds  to  God  and  humanity  to  pay  her 
share  of  work  and  suffering  in  some  other  way. 

5.     It  has  been  one  of  the  established  Ameii- 


The  Church  and  Social  Questions    115 

can  ideals  that  our  people  shall  have  leisure  for 
the  higher  life.  The  American  Sabbath  has 
given  us  leisure  to  consider  the  higher  problems 
of  life,  to  meditate,  to  enjoy  the  quietness  of  our 
homes,  and  to  become  acquainted  with  our  own 
souls. 

The  Puritan  Sabbath  may  have  been  narrow, 
and  based  often  on  a  somewhat  servile  obedience 
to  written  precepts,  but  it  has  left  to  our  nation 
a  legacy  of  inestimable  value.  If  we  had  not 
inherited  the  rest-day  from  religion  it  would  be 
almost  impossible  to  wrest  it  now  from  the  terri 
ble  pace  of  business  life.  In  giving  us  Sunday 
rest,  religion  has  thrown  its  shield  about  one  of 
the  fundamental  social  needs  of  man,  and  about 
the  whole  army  of  toilers. 

But  this  day,  too,  is  threatened  by  the  en 
croachments  of  profit-making.  The  loud  amuse 
ments  of  Sunday  resorts  are  not  solely  due  to 
the  popular  love  of  pleasure ;  there  is  capital  be 
hind  the  resorts  and  transportation  companies 
are  eager  for  dividends.  Moreover,  the  general 
tendency  of  industry  to  utilize  its  plant  and  its 
workers  to  the  utmost  will  always  make  Sunday 
work  tempting  to  it. 

The  church  should  cooperate  with  organized 
labour  in  protecting  the  rest-day.  Both  have  an 
interest  in  its  preservation ;  each  should  learn  to 
understand  and  value  the  point  of  view  of  the 
other, 


li6     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

To-day  there  is  need  for  extending  the  princi 
ple  of  leisure  that  is  embodied  in  the  Sabbath. 
As  the  community  grows  in  wealth,  it  should 
afford  more  leisure  to  its  members  for  the  real 
enjoyment  and  culture  of  their  lives.  As  indus 
trial  labour  becomes  intenser  in  speed,  and  makes 
higher  demands  on  the  physical  and  mental  en 
durance  of  the  workers,  more  leisure  is  needed 
to  offset  the  increased  strain.  Factory  workers 
should  not  work  as  many  hours  as  those  who 
work  in  the  open  air.  The  Saturday  half-holiday 
in  the  heated  season  is  an  extension  of  the  Sab 
bath  rest.  The  eight-hour  day,  towards  which 
organized  labour  is  striving,  comes  under  the 
same  point  of  view,  for  the  Sabbath  in  the  be 
ginning  was  not  instituted  that  people  might  go 
to  worship,  but  that  they  might  rest  from  labour. 

The  church  has  a  splendid  obligation  in  regard 
to  the  holidays  which  she  herself  has  created. 
Christmas  was  meant  for  a  day  of  holy  joy. 
The  solicitations  of  our  commerce  have  corrupted 
it  and  turned  it  into  a  time  of  frantic  buying  and 
selling,  which  drives  all  workers  at  terrible  pres 
sure.  Cannot  the  church  save  the  day  from 
degradation  and  the  people  from  cruel  over 
work? 

When  the  workers  try  to  secure  more  leisure 
for  enjoying  their  families  and  the  opportunities 
of  social  intercourse  and  artistic  stimulus,  they 
are  striving  for  an  old  American  ideal  under  non- 


The  Church  and  Social  Questions    117 

religious  forms.  If  the  church  can  persuade 
them  that  the  highest  culture  demands  the  de 
velopment  of  the  religious  life,  and  that  no  rest 
is  complete  without  the  peace  of  God,  it  will  be 
the  great  educator  and  friend  of  the  workers. 
But  even  if  they  refuse  to  come  to  church,  we 
should  recognize  their  desires  as  legitimate  and 
good,  and  we  should  aid  them,  even  if  they  will 
not  aid  us.  The  fact  that  some  of  them  will  mis 
use  their  leisure  for  drink  or  frivolity  does  not 
alter  the  obligation.  Our  children,  too,  misuse 
their  opportunities,  but  we  continue  to  give  them. 

6.  One  of  the  great  ideals  of  American  life  is 
the  American  home.  We  have  had  a  deep-seated 
feeling  that  no  life  was  complete  and  normal 
until  it  was  rounded  out  in  the  group  of  man, 
woman,  and  child. 

To-day  we  witness  all  about  us  the  disintegra 
tion  of  that  ideal.  In  every  industrial  com 
munity  there  are  great  numbers  of  permanently 
unmarried  people.  Men  and  women  well  fitted 
for  family  life  are  restrained  by  prudence  from 
undertaking  the  burdens.  Many  couples  are 
purposely  childless.  The  increase  of  divorces  is 
partly  due  to  the  strain  of  worry  and  insecurity. 
The  entrance  of  women  into  industrial  employ 
ments  has  increased  the  free  mingling  of  the 
sexes  and  diminished  the  protection  of  the  home. 
The  results  are  very  serious. 


li8     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

Even  when  the  home  is  stable  and  happy,  high 
rent  cuts  down  the  space  needful  for  an  American 
home.  Long  hours  of  work,  increased  by  travel 
back  and  forth  in  the  morning  and  evening,  de 
crease  the  time  which  parents  can  spend  with 
their  children. 

The  luxury  of  modern  life  also  undermines  the 
higher  life  of  the  home.  Here,  again,  the  re 
sponsibility  lies  chiefly  with  the  women  of  our 
nation.  Men  in  the  main  direct  the  productior 
of  economic  goods,  but  women  direct  their  con 
sumption.  The  style  of  living  is,  on  the  whole 
determined  by  them.  The  women  of  the  uppei 
classes  set  the  pace  in  display  and  other  women 
have  to  follow  in  order  to  maintain  appearances 
and  "  be  in  style."  The  conscience  of  women  is 
still  torpid  as  to  the  effect  which  their  very  re 
spectable  luxury  has  upon  other  lives.  In  count 
less  homes  the  higher  joys  of  home  life  are 
cramped,  or  sacrificed  to  the  need  of  keeping 
up  with  a  rush  that  leads  to  very  little  solid 
good.  Women  have  too  long  lent  themselves 
as  thoughtless  tools  to  commercial  interests 
that  always  lure  them  on  to  buy  something 
new. 

The  church  has  ever  been  the  great  defender 
of  the  purity  and  nobility  of  the  home.  Its  single- 
handed  fight  against  the  liquor  traffic  has  largely 
been  a  defense  of  home  life.  It  should  now  face 
with  equal  insight  and  courage  the  dangers  that 


The  Church  and  Social  Questions     1 19 

arise  from  modern  industry  and  commerce,  from 
high  rents,  high  prices,  false  systems  of  taxation, 
and  the  social  luxury  created  by  unearned  wealth 
and  "  the  lust  of  the  eye." 

7.  Finally,  one  of  the  ideal  elements  that 
especially  characterize  American  life  is  the 
chivalry  of  the  strong  towards  the  weak.  It  is 
probably  fair  to  say  that  American  men  are  more 
considerate  and  reverent  towards  women  than 
the  men  of  any  other  nation.  Women  in  other 
countries  feel  that  ours  is  the  paradise  of  woman. 
In  the  same  way  there  is  a  remarkable  tenderness 
for  the  child.  All  this  is  the  expression  of  the 
saving  spirit  of  Christ,  which  has  sweetened  and 
ennobled  our  national  customs. 

It  is  a  part  of  Home  Mission  work  to  foster 
this  product  of  American  Christianity  among  all 
the  sections  of  our  population  which  have  not 
yet  assimilated  it,  especially  the  lower  races  of 
our  continent,  and  the  immigrants  who  have 
brought  other  traditions  with  them. 

But  this  old  idea  of  American  chivalry  is 
threatened  among  us  by  the  strain  of  industrial 
city  life,  where  men  are  often  so  pressed  that  they 
learn  to  be  inconsiderate.  When  women  are 
worked  in  industry  without  regard  to  their 
womanly  needs,  when  they  are  exploited  and 
browbeaten  by  foremen  or  employers  who  are 
in  turn  urged  on  by  others,  when  they  are 


12O     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

roughly  handled  and  unjustly  sentenced  by 
police  and  courts  (as  in  the  New  York  shirt 
waist  strike  of  1909),  we  have  a  breakdown  o.i 
a  large  scale  of  the  fine  ideals  of  America.i 
chivalry.  The  same  thing  holds  when  the 
tender  flower  of  childhood  is  used  up  to  make 
swift  profits. 

We  have  enumerated  some  of  the  ideals  o~ 
American  Christianity  that  need  to  be  conserved 
against  the  pressure  of  industrial  and  commercial 
life.  This  duty  lies  upon  all  citizens.  But  it 
rests  especially  with  the  church.  How  shall  tho 
church  perform  that  duty  ? 

The  great  function  of  the  church  is  to  preacli 
the  Word  of  God.  But  "  the  Word  of  God  "  is 
no  narrow  and  traditional  thing.  It  touches  all 
life  and  is  quick  and  piercing  like  a  sword. 
Wherever  wrong  is  done  to  the  weak,  wherever 
organized  selfishness  threatens  the  nobler  stand 
ards  of  life,  wherever  an  opportunity  offers  to 
advance  Christian  principles  in  modern  civiliza 
tion,  the  church  has  a  word  of  the  Lord  to 
men.  But  the  perpetual  competitor  of  God  is 
Mammon. 

There  should  be  more  discussion  in  the  social 
meetings  of  the  churches  on  the  larger,  social 
applications  of  Christianity.  Industrial  wrongs 
should  be  faced  as  frankly  as  the  liquor  question. 
The  leaders  in  church  life  owe  it  to  the  people  to 


The  Church  and  Social  Questions    121 

inform  them  wisely  on  the  actual  conditions  and 
the  remedies  proposed  for  them.1 

Why  should  not  Christian  people  who  believe 
in  the  power  of  prayer  pray  together  for  those 
who  labour  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  for  the  men 
of  good  will,  the  employers  and  social  workers 
of  every  kind,  who  are  so  honestly  seeking  to 
ease  their  burdens  ?  Why  should  not  the  con 
stant  slaughter  of  industrial  accidents  move 
Christian  women  to  prayer,  as  well  as  the  smaller 
slaughter  of  war  ?  Prayer  transforms  mere  in 
formation  into  will  and  conviction,  and  deepens 
the  sense  of  duty. 

Should  the  church  ever  exert  its  influence  in 
politics  ?  We  have  a  well-grounded  dread  of 
ecclesiastical  influence  in  politics.  But  that  is 
due  to  the  fact  that,  in  the  past,  great  churches 
have  gone  into  politics  to  defend  or  acquire 
privileges  for  themselves.  It  is  an  entirely  dif 
ferent  matter  when  the  churches  ask  nothing  for 

1  For  the  purpose  of  such  study  the  writer  would  commend 
the  simple  lessons  published  monthly  by  the  American  Institute 
of  Social  Service  in  "The  Gospel  of  the  Kingdom"  (Bible 
House,  Astor  Place,  New  York)  ;  or  "  Studies  in  American  So 
cial  Conditions,"  edited  by  Rev.  Richard  Henry  Edwards  of 
the  University  of  Wisconsin  (Madison,  Wis.),  a  series  of  pam 
phlets  of  high  value ;  or  the  book,  "  Social  Solutions,"  by  Prof. 
Thomas  C.  Hall  of  Union  Theological  Seminary  (Eaton  &  Mains, 
New  York  City,  Publishers).  He  also  ventures  to  mention  his 
own  book,  "  Christianity  and  the  Social  Crisis"  (Macmillan 
Company,  New  York  City,  Publishers). 


122     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

themselves,  but  demand  protection  for  the  moral 
safety  of  the  people.  Then  they  are  not  one 
more  selfish  interest  going  into  politics,  but  ire 
the  champions  of  the  people  and  prophets  of 
God.  Our  churches  have  long  learned  to  tak?  a 
hand  in  the  political  fight  against  the  liquor 
traffic.  If  they  took  an  equally  intelligent  and 
active  interest  in  the  well-known  evils  created  by 
industrial  life,  they  would  have  great  power  in 
conserving  the  past  ideals  of  American  life  and 
in  reenforcing  the  influences  that  are  bringing  on 
a  better  day. 


NON-CHRISTIAN  FAITHS  IN  AMERICA 

Elisabeth  B.  Vermilye 


Be  not  carried  away  with  divers  and  strange  doctrines. 

— HEB.  xin.  9. 

Woe  unto  them  that  call  evil  good  and  good  evil ;  th.it 
put  darkness  for  light  and  light  for  darkness  /  that  put 
bitter  for  sweety  and  sweet  for  bitter. — ISA.  v.  20. 

And  thou  shah  not  go  aside  from  any  of  the  words  which 
I  command  thee  this  day,  to  the  right  or  to  the  left,  to  ^o 
after  other  gods  to  serve  them — DEUT.  xxvm.  14. 

And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  if  thou  shalt  hearken  diligently 
unto  the  voice  of  the  Lord  thy  God,  to  observe  and  to  do 
all  His  commandments  which  I  command  thee  this  day, 
that  the  Lord  thy  God  will  set  thee  on  high  above  all  na 
tions  of  the  earth.-*- DEUT.  xxvm.  i. 


NON-CHRISTIAN  FAITHS  IN  AMERICA 

BACK  of  Home  Missions  must  stand  that 
which  gives  them  reason  for  being,  as 
well  as  incentive  and  inspiration — the  re 
ligion   of  Jesus    Christ.     Back   of  our  national 
problems  must  ever  be  the  question  whether  they 
shall  be  solved  by  a  Christian  or  a  non-Christian 
nation. 

Prominent  among  American  ideals  has  always 
been  the  desire  for  complete  religious  freedom, 
but  certainly  in  the  hearts  of  those  who  founded 
this  nation  it  was  assumed  and  expected  that  it 
was,  and  would  remain,  freedom  to  be  Christian. 
It  was  their  purpose  to  establish  a  government 
over  which  should  always  rule  Jesus  the  Christ ; 
however  we  may  differ  from  them  in  some  par 
ticulars  we  cannot  fail  to  acknowledge  that  this 
Republic  had  its  roots  in  prayer ;  was  founded 
upon  the  Word  of  God ;  was  cradled  in  the 
sanctity  of  the  Christian  home;  and  took  its 
growth  and  strength  from  unswerving  principle. 

Upon  us  devolves  the  problem  and  the  task  of 

upholding  and  advancing  the  ideals  so  committed 

to  us.     Not   only   to    upbuild   the  kingdom    of 

Christ  but  to  hold  what  we  have  inherited,  or 

"5 


126     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

gained, — that  is  the  serious  problem  which  con 
fronts  us ! 

All  signs  show  that  this  is  a  period  of  unrest 
in  religious,  as  in  social,  economic,  and  govern 
mental  concerns.  A  tendency  to  turn  away  frcm 
Christianity  to  follow  alien,  or  often  antagonistic, 
faiths  is  everywhere  evident;  or  even  if  adher 
ence  is  not  entirely  withdrawn  there  is  increasing 
readiness  to  admit  that  the  religion  of  Jesus  is 
only  one  among  many,  with  no  especial  right  to 
interpret  God  and  man  in  their  right  relations. 
Statistics  show  nowhere  in  the  world  such  an 
infinite  variety  of  divided  and  subdivided  sect; ; 
of  independent  leaders  and  cults ;  of  erratic 
"  isms,"  as  in  this  land  of  ours.  Forty-eight  new 
sects  have  been  added  in  the  decade  since  1900. 

This  is  somewhat  to  be  expected  among  a 
population  comprising  so  many  nations  and 
peoples  and  tongues  entirely  unrestricted  relig 
iously  by  law  or  public  sentiment.  Unnumbered 
teachers  are  proclaiming  new  ideas  in  religious 
as  in  all  other  branches  of  thought ;  each  day 
records  some  new  doctrine  which  claims  to  hold 
ultimate  truth.  It  is  claimed  that  any  leader,  or 
new  cult,  however  extreme,  can  win  a  following 
here  at  this  time  if  properly  advertised.  Each 
year  sees  thousands  of  men  and  women  drawing 
away  from  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  as  inter 
preted  by  the  church,  to  follow  other  leaders  and 
lords. 


Non-Christian  Faiths  in  America     127 

We  cannot  shut  our  eyes  to  these  facts  ;  it  is 
better  to  face  and  carefully  consider  what  it  is 
which  is  promising  rest  of  soul  to  weary  seekers, 
and  satisfaction  to  hungry  hearts ;  for  that  this 
wide-spread  religious  unrest  really  indicates  long 
ing  for  the  unseen  and  hunger  for  spiritual  food 
cannot  be  doubted. 

The  subject  of  this  chapter  requires  definition. 
Several  of  the  faiths  now  gaining  adherents  make 
their  appeal  in  the  name  of  a  higher,  purer 
Christianity.  Only  careful  study  reveals  that 
they  differ  essentially  from  the  teaching  of  Christ 
as  to  the  being  and  nature  of  God,  the  reality  of 
sin,  and  the  place  and  mission  of  Himself.  Many 
of  these  faiths  teach  pure  ethics  and  high  moral 
ity.  Some  of  them  place  an  emphasis  on  the 
reality  of  the  unseen  and  the  supreme  claim  of 
the  spiritual  which  is  greatly  needed  and  most 
helpful  in  this  materialistic  age. 

Christianity  stands  for  the  revelation  of  a 
Father  God,  revealed  in  the  Son,  and  drawing 
together  all  men  in  brotherhood,  but  yet  more  it 
stands  for  the  leadership  of  a  living  Christ  and 
complete  redemption  through  and  in  Him.  In 
using  the  term  non-Christian,  therefore,  let  us 
understand  it  to  mean  those  forms  of  religious 
faiths  which  do  not  acknowledge  Jesus  Christ  as 
supreme  leader,  authoritative  teacher,  and  Re 
deemer  from  sin.  But  let  us  remember  that  in 
such  a  study  we  are  dealing  entirely  with  systems 


1 28     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

of  belief,  and  formulated  interpretations  of  truth, 
not  with  the  lives  or  characters  of  those  who 
intelligently,  or  otherwise,  accept  these  interpre 
tations  and  adhere  to  these  systems. 

Those  forms  of  belief  which  do  not  agree  whh 
Christianity  as  embodied  in,  and  interpreted  by, 
the  ancient  and  historic  Christian  church,  while 
included  under  the  general  head  of  non-Christian 
faiths,  may  be  divided  into  three  classes — u  i- 
Christian,  anti-Christian,  and  non-Christian. 

Un-Christian  includes : 

1 .  The  large  proportion  of  the  population  who 
acknowledge  no  religious  affiliations  whatever. 

2.  The  orthodox  Hebrew  communion  whicci, 
while  composed  of  valuable  citizens  and  usually 
a  force  for  righteousness,  does  not  acknowledge 
Christ  as  Lord  or  authoritative  teacher,  or  yieid 
to  Him  honour  as  a  divine  Saviour.    Judaism  has, 
according  to  the  census,  1,769  reported  organiza 
tions,  101,457  members,  all  heads  of  families. 

3.  The  Mormon   hierarchy  which,  while   of 
ficially    calling    itself  "  Church    of  Latter    Day 
Saints  of  Jesus   Christ,"  places  far  above  Him  in 
its  councils    Joseph  Smith,  Brigham  Young,  or 
any   present   day  apostle ;  looks   to   forms    and 
ceremonies  of  its  own  instituting  for  redemption 
and  healing ;  and  follows   practices  contrary  to 
the  moral  sense,  not  only  of  the  Christian  church 
but  also  of  the  community  at  large  outside  the 
Mormon  church. 


Non-Christian  Faiths  in  America     129 

4.  Christian  Science  which,  while  emphasiz 
ing  many  vital  and  helpful  truths,  is  in  its  philos 
ophy  Hinduism.     Its  teaching  denies  the  reality 
of  sin  or  the  need  of  a  Saviour,  and  places  its 
founder,  Mary   Baker  G.   Eddy,   whom  it    calls 
"  the  second  incarnation  of  God,"   as  a  religious 
leader     and    authoritative    teacher,    above    the 
Christ,  who  is  reduced  in  His  personal  relations 
to  "  the  Christ  Idea." 

5.  Spiritualism,  a  moral  and  naturalistic  sys 
tem,  inclined  to  follow  oriental  philosophy,  be 
lieving  in  continuity  of  existence  and  power  of 
intercommunication  with  the  other  world. 

The  anti-Christian  forces  include : 

1.  Some  forms  of  Socialism. 

2.  Labour  Temples  of  extreme  type  which 
exact  from  their  members   oaths  of  antagonism 
to  all  religious  bodies,  and  abstention  from  any 
and  all  religious  practices. 

3.  Those  who  follow,  or  sympathize  with,  the 
teachings  of  Voltaire,  Strauss,  Renan,  Ingersoll 
or  those  others  who  claim  to  be  altruistic  in  be 
lief,  iconoclastic  in  intention,  and  antagonistic  in 
effort  to  all  forms  of  religious  belief  or  observ 
ance.     Of  this  latter  class  there  is,  alas,  a  large 
and  increasing  company  in  this  land,  threatening 
its  future  continuance  as  a  Christian  nation,  crip 
pling  its  present  day  efforts   for  the  triumph  of 
the  Christ;  training  the  children,  to  whom  be- 


130     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

longs  the  future,  in  indifference  or  antagonism  to 
the  religion  and  kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Of  the  "  ten  great  religions  of  the  world  " — 
Confucianism,  Brahmanism,  Buddhism,  Parsee- 
ism,  Mohammedanism,  Judaism,  the  religion  of 
Egypt,  the  religion  of  Greece,  the  religion  of 
Rome,  and  Christianity,  three  only  have  been 
missionary — Mohammedanism,  Buddhism  and 
Christianity ;  six  only  are  still  vital  or  aggressive 
—Mohammedanism,  Confucianism,  Brahmanism, 
Buddhism,  Judaism  and  Christianity. 

All  of  these  six  we  find  in  America  to-day  in 
ancient  or  modern  form,  or  in  both.  Nor  are 
the  non-Christian  faiths  failing  to  gain  adher 
ents,  for  statistics  show  a  yearly  increase  in 
numbers  and  strength,  as  well  as  influence  and 
wealth.  No  available  statistics  give  the  exact 
amount  of  such  increase,  but  many  things  indi 
cate  its  general  spread. 

The  non-Christian  division  includes  : 

Buddhism,  which  in  its  ancient  form  holds  most 
of  those  who  come  to  us  from  China  and  Japan ; 
its  temples  and  "joss-houses  "  dot  several  sections 
of  the  country  and  large  cities.  It  issues  a  news 
paper  with  wide  circulation  from  our  Pacific 
coast.  Buddhism  finds  its  modern  exponent  in 
Theosophy,  which  is  drawing  to  itself  large 
numbers  of  religiously  restless  people. 

Mohammedanism  is  gaining  a  footing  through 


Non-Christian  Faiths  in  America     131 

its  reform  movement,  "  Babism,"  or  "  Bahaism," 
and  the  Mormon  church,  in  its  practice  of  po 
lygamy,  follows  the  teaching  and  example  of  Is 
lam. 

Brahmanism  is  making  its  way  in  one  of  its 
very  vital  forms,  Vedantism ;  and  in  its  modern 
form,  Christian  Science. 

Confucianism,  in  its  ancient  form,  holds  many 
Chinese  and  is  being  acceptably  presented  by  its 
own  adherents  as  a  perfect  system  of  morals  and 
ethics.  With  its  stress  on  morals,  and  its  ancestor 
worship  it  finds  its  modern  equivalent  in  Positiv 
ism,  and  in  Ethical  Culture  with  its  emphasis  on 
ethics  and  its  non-emphasis  on  a  God. 

Parseeism  is  being  revived  in  a  Sun  worship 
with  headquarters  in  Chicago,  to  which  there 
have  been  a  number  of  recent  converts. 

Even  the  old  worship  of  Isis,  so  long  neg 
lected  in  its  home  in  Egypt,  has  been  recently 
transplanted  by  a  little  company  of  its  priests,  and 
is  finding  a  new  home  on  our  hospitable  shores. 

The  latest  religious  census,  begun  in  1906,  is 
sued  in  1910,  shows  three-fifths  of  the  entire  pop 
ulation,  amounting  to  50,000,000  people,  with 
out  church-membership  of  any  kind.  In  the 
period  between  1890  and  1906,  there  was  a  gain 
in  those  within  the  ranks  of  church-membership 
of  six  and  four-tenths  per  cent,  of  the  entire  pop 
ulation  ;  one  and  eight-tenths  per  cent,  of  this 
gain  was  Protestant,  four  and  four-tenths  per  cent. 


132     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

was  Roman  Catholic,  one-tenth  of  one  per  cert, 
was  in"  un-Christian  "  or"  non-Christian  "  organi 
zations.  This  is  of  some  encouragement  to  the 
Christian  church,  but  what  small  inroads  does  it 
show  on  the  mass  of  the  unchurched  and  unr<*- 
ligious  millions !  Truly,  Home  Missions  finds 
here  a  field  for  all  its  combined  forces  and 
united  efforts ! 

MORMONISM 

The  only  one  of  the  un-Christian  faiths  which 
constitutes  a  menace  to  our  nation  is  tie 
"  Church  of  Latter  Day  Saints  of  Jesus  Christ " 
known  as  the  Mormon  hierarchy.  The  increase 
in  membership  in  this  communion  since  1890 
has  been  over  90,000,  equalling  thirty-eight  per 
cent,  of  the  religious  growth  in  the  entire  popu 
lation,  against  twenty-eight  per  cent,  in  the 
Protestant  denominations  and  twenty-one  per 
cent,  in  the  Roman  Catholic  bodies.  The  Mor 
mon  organizations  have  increased  from  856  in 
1890  to  1,184  i11  1906,  and  are  still  increasing 
rapidly. 

There  are  now  two  divisions,  called  "  the 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints  " 
and  the  "  Reorganized  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of 
Latter  Day  Saints."  The  value  of  church  prop 
erty  is  now  placed  at  $3,168,548. 

The  chief  danger  of  the  Mormon  church  to  the 
nation  lies  in  its  political  and  governmental 


Non-Christian  Faiths  in  America     133 

aspirations  ;  in  the  supreme  allegiance  of  its 
members  to  the  church  rather  than  the  nation ; 
and  in  their  absolute  obedience  to  the  commands 
of  the  church  in  voting,  colonizing,  and  every 
other  detail  of  their  lives.  The  political  designs 
of  the  hierarchy  are  clearly  set  forth  in  their 
articles  of  faith  in  which  it  is  stated  that  "  all 
merely  human,  religious,  or  political  institutions, 
all  republics,  states,  kingdoms  and  empires,  must 
be  dissolved  ;  the  dross  of  ignorance  and  false 
hood  be  separated  and  the  golden  principles  of 
unalloyed  truth  be  preserved  and  blended  forever 
in  the  one  consolidated,  universal,  eternal  govern 
ment  of  the  Saints  of  the  Most  High." 

Towards  this  goal— the  government  of  this 
country  and  the  world — they  are  steadily  but 
silently  working.  Towards  the  accomplishment 
of  this  ambition  they  claim  control,  or  balance 
of  power,  in  Utah,  Idaho,  Wyoming,  Nevada, 
Oregon,  Colorado,  Arizona,  Oklahoma  and  New 
Mexico. 

The  religious  census  shows  the  Mormon  pro 
portion  of  the  population  religiously  affiliated  to 
be  as  follows : 

Utah  -         92  per  cent. 

Idaho       -  62  "       " 

Wyoming  -         1 1  «       " 

Arizona  -  24  "       " 

Nevada    -  -           8  «       " 

Colorado-  3  «<        " 


134     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

In  addition  to  the  states  unquestionably  under 
strong  Mormon  influence,  the  hierarchy  has  to 
be  reckoned  with  politically  in  many  other  states 
closely  divided  between  the  dominant  parties. 

The  practice  of  polygamy,  growing  each  year 
more  open,  is  so  fundamental  in  the  constitution 
and  creed  of  the  church  that  it  can  be  intermitted 
only  during  the  storms  caused  by  aroused  pubic 
opinion.  It  can  never  be  permanently  discontin 
ued  without  setting  at  naught  the  very  founda 
tion  principles  of  Mormonism.  This  practice,  so 
contrary  to  all  decency  and  morality,  renders 
this  church  a  menace  to  the  moral  life  of  the 
community,  and  the  nation. 

In  its  religious  tenets  the  Mormon  church  can 
never  be  a  source  of  pure  religion  and  undefiled 
for  the  uplift  of  the  people.  The  Mormon  con 
ception  of  God  is  the  lowest  found  in  any  relig 
ious  system,  except  that  of  devil  worship.  The 
creed  affirms,  "  We  believe  in  God,  the  Eternal 
Father,  and  in  His  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  and  in  the 
Holy  Ghost."  With  this  profession  of  orthodox 
belief,  denying  polygamy,  and  proclaiming  a 
beautiful  spirit  of  religious  harmony  and  brotherly 
love,  together  with  promises  of  material  gain, 
they  draw  to  themselves  thousands  of  converts 
each  year  from  all  parts  of  the  earth.  In  1910  they 
claimed  to  have  made  in  all  600,000  converts  and 
the  religious  census  showed  in  America  256,647 
Mormons,  although  their  estimate  was  375,000. 


Non-Christian  Faiths  in  America     135 

According  to  Mormon  interpretation  the 
above  article  of  faith  declares  that  "  God  Himself 
was  once  as  we  are  now,  and  is  an  exalted  man ; 
He  was  once  a  man  like  us  and  dwelt  on  earth. 
The  Father  has  a  body  of  flesh  and  bones  as 
tangible  as  man's.  Adam  is  our  Father  and  our 
God."  Nor  is  there  only  one  god  in  the  Mormon 
faith.  "  In  the  beginning  the  head  of  the  gods 
called  a  council  of  the  gods  and  they  came 
together  and  concocted  a  plan  to  create  the 
world  and  people  it."  And  still  is  this  company 
being  added  to.  "  You  have  got  to  learn  how 
to  be  gods  yourselves,  the  same  as  all  gods  have 
done  before  you,"  that  is,  by  the  practice  of 
polygamy. 

Jesus  is  declared  to  be  "  Son  of  God  "  as  Hyrum 
Smith  was  a  "  son  of  God,"  and  to  have  entered 
the  "  divine  order  of  plural  marriage  "  by  mar 
riage  with  the  two  Marys  and  Martha  at  Cana  of 
Galilee. 

Apostle  Kimball  defines  the  Holy  Ghost  as  "  a 
man,  one  of  the  sons  of  our  Father  and  our  God ; 
that  man  who  stood  next  to  Jesus  Christ  as  I 
stand  by  Brigham  Young.  You  think  our  father 
and  our  God  is  not  a  lively,  sociable  and  cheerful 
man ;  He  is  one  of  the  most  lively  men  that 
ever  lived. " 

As  the  Mormon  church  teaches  that  "  the 
divine  order  of  plural  marriage "  is  the  God- 
ordered  and  God-practiced  order  of  heaven ; 


136     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

that  with  it  any  man  can  become  a  god;  that 
without  it  no  woman  can  be  saved  ;  that  it  was 
given  to  Joseph  Smith  by  a  divine  revelation 
which  can  never  be  abrogated  ;  and  that  only  as 
its  members  conform  to  it  when  so  ordered  by 
the  church  can  they  be  in  good  and  regular 
standing,  it  is  clear  that  no  profession  of  change 
under  stress  of  pressure  from  without,  or  desire 
from  within  to  secure  some  benefit  can  be  lasting 
or  sincere.  "  We  did  not  reveal  celestial  mar 
riage,  "  said  President  Smith  before  the  Con 
gressional  Committee  ;  "  we  cannot  withdraw  or 
renounce  it.  God  revealed  it  and  He  has  prom 
ised  to  maintain  it  and  to  bless  those  who  obey 
it.  Forty  years  ago  the  Lord  revealed  to  His 
church  this  principle  and  said,  '  For,  behold,  I 
reveal  unto  you  a  new  and  everlasting  covenant, 
and  if  ye  abide  not  in  that  covenant  then  are  ye 
damned  and  cannot  be  permitted  to  enter  into 
My  glory.' "  Believing  this  law  how  can  the 
Mormon  church  abolish  polygamy  ? 

The  missionary  forces  of  the  Mormon  church 
are  the  most  devoted,  aggressive,  and  well 
organized  in  the  world !  They  serve  absolutely 
without  pay  or  reward,  and  yield  unquestioning 
obedience  to  any  command  of  the  church  what 
ever  of  sacrifice  or  effort  it  may  entail.  Over 
two  thousand  missionaries  are  sent  out  each  year 
to  visit  "  every  city,  town,  hamlet  and  house,  and 
to  talk  with  each  person  if  possible  at  least 


Non-Christian  Faiths  in  America     137 

twice."  "  Two  by  two  "  they  go  forth  through 
this  and  all  foreign  lands,  even  to  Japan,  the 
Hawaiian  Islands,  Tahiti,  New  Zealand,  Samoa, 
and  Australia.  By  systematically "  being  all 
things  to  all  men,"  offending  none  by  harsh  or 
repellent  doctrine  until  securely  drawn  into  the 
church,  they  are  adding  to  their  numbers  at  the 
rate  of  thirty-eight  per  cent,  of  the  religious 
growth  of  the  entire  population.  Surely  these 
are  facts  deserving  deepest  consideration  from 
the  view-point  of  Home  Missions  and  the  welfare 
of  our  nation. 

BABISM 

The  other  expression  of  Mohammedanism, 
Babism,  or  Bahaism,  has  twenty-four  organiza 
tions  and  is  distributed  through  thirteen  states 
and  the  District  of  Columbia.  It  reports  1,280 
open  adherents,  taught  by  instructed  leaders.  A 
central  temple,  in  Chicago,  will  soon  be  com 
pleted.  Babism  was  a  schism  from  Islam  in 
1844,  being  founded  by  Mirza  AH  Mahommed, 
who  claimed  to  be  the  "  bab  " — or  "  door  "  of 
communication  between  the  twelfth  Imam  and 
his  people.  At  first,  however,  Mirza  claimed  to 
be  only  the  forerunner  of  One  greater,  but  later 
believed  himself  to  be  the  incarnation  of  divine 
wisdom.  He  died  under  persecution  in  Persia 
and  his  disciples  called  themselves  Babists.  The 
successor  of  Mirza  Ali  was  Baha  Ullah,  or 
"  Splendour  of  God."  He  also  claimed  divine 


138     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

wisdom  and  met  with  persecution,  but  his  follow 
ers  formed  a  sect  now  called  Bahais,  which  is 
very  powerful  in  Persia.  Its  motive  claims  to  be 
a  desire  to  conform  the  law  and  teaching  of 
Islam  to  modern  conditions,  and  to  attain  a 
more  vital  union  with  God  than  can  be  won 
through  that  law  alone.  Otherwise  it  diffeis 
little  from  Mohammedanism. 

The  present  "  bab  "  is  Abdul  Baha  Abbas,  son 
of  Baha  Ullah.  He  teaches  love,  tolerance  and 
charity,  and  strives  for  the  spiritual  unity  of 
mankind.  He  acknowledges  Christianity  as  a 
phase  of  true  religion  and  gives  reverence  to 
the  Christ,  but  claims  for  himself  a  higher  place 
as  head  of  the  faith  which  is  the  supreme  fulfill 
ment  of  truth.  Many  American  women  have 
gone  to  Acre,  his  place  of  banishment  on  the 
Syrian  coast,  to  sit  at  his  feet ;  the  faith  is  pre 
sented  year  by  year  at  Green  Acre,  Maine. 

TEACHINGS  OF  NON-CHRISTIAN  FAITHS 
A   study   of  non-Christian   faiths  in  America 
may   properly   include   a    condensed  outline   of 
their   general  religious   teachings  and  practices. 
The  exoteric  in  a  religion  represents  the  out 
ward    form     the   ceremonies,  ritual,  expressions 
and  practices   with  which  it  makes  its  open  ap 
peal  to  its  followers  and  the  world.     The  esoteric 
represents   its   inner  meaning,  the  hidden  secret 
to  which  only  those  penetrate  and  which  only 


Non-Christian  Faiths  in  America     139 

those  understand  who  give  heart  devotion  and 
deep  study.  All  religious  faiths  have  a  greater 
or  less  degree  of  both  these  elements. 

The  most  wide-spread  and  popular  of  the  non- 
Christian  faiths  is  Buddhism  in  its  original  form, 
and  also  in  its  modern  phase  of  Theosophy. 
Buddhism  originally  was  especially  a  revolt 
against  idolatry,  the  elaborate  and  oppressive 
caste  system,  and  the  immoral  life  which  Brah- 
manism  had  fostered.  Theosophy — -from  Greek 
words  meaning  divine  wisdom — while  claiming 
to  have  a  place  for  any  who  seek  that  end,  with 
out  regard  to  religious  affiliation  or  form  of  wor 
ship,  none  the  less  confesses  itself  in  its  essence 
to  be  esoteric  Buddhism. 

Buddhism  and  Theosophy  make  special  claim 
to  these  distinctions.  Outwardly  Buddhism  is  a 
system  of  elaborate  forms  and  ceremonies.  At 
its  heart  it  is  a  life  of  meditation  and  constant 
contemplation  of  the  things  of  the  spirit  world. 
Originally  it  sharply  condemned  all  outward 
expression  and,  especially,  idolatrous  practices. 
It  has  been  beautifully  presented  to  this  genera 
tion  by  Edwin  Arnold  as  "  the  Light  of  Asia." 
Its  teachings  are  favourably  compared  with  those 
of  Christ ;  its  spirit  is  extolled  as  superior  to 
that  shown  by  Christians.  It  is  even  claimed 
that  Christianity  owes  much  of  its  tradition  and 
teaching  to  the  Buddha  ;  that  in  a  true  sense  he 
was  the  parent  of  the  religion  of  Jesus. 


140     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

But  while  there  are  some  resemblances,  more 
especially  in  religious  observances,  with  those  of 
Catholic  Christianity,  the  differences  are  so 
fundamental  and  vital  that  no  true  student  of 
history  or  religion  can  for  a  moment  believe  that 
the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  owes  anything  *:o 
the  faith  of  Gautama,  the  Buddha.  Its  spirit  of 
chanty,  self-sacrifice,  justice  and  purity,  and  its 
high  morality  as  exemplified  in  the  life  and  teach 
ings  of  its  founder,  put  Buddhism  on  a  higher 
level  of  purity  and  truth  than  any  other  non- 
Christian  religion.  But  Buddhism  has  little  place 
for  a  God.  Its  key-note  is  the  worship  of  death, 
and  yet  it  denies  to  man  all  hope  of  a  personal 
immortality.1 

1  In  the  form  of  final  self-extinction  after  innumerable  rein 
carnations — loss  and  annihilation  of  self  in  Nirvana,  the  final 
absorption  and  extinction,  which  is  its  heaven — Buddha  incites 
his  followers  to  a  love  of  death.  Many  lives  in  many  forms 
must  be  lived,  but  the  highest  aspiration  in  each  must  be  to 
escape  the  wretchedness  and  curse  inevitable  to  a  life  on  earth, 
by  the  extermination  of  all  desire,  feeling  and  affection.  Only 
in  negation  of  true  living  can  peace  be  secured.  This  is  termed 
by  the  Buddha  "  the  perfect  way  "  and  eight  infallible  steps  are 
given  for  its  attainment. 

1.  Right  belief,  or  the  correct  faith. 

2.  Right  judgment,  or  a  wise   application  of  that   faith  to 
life. 

3.  Right  utterance,  or  perfect  truth  in  all  we  say  or  do. 

4.  Right  motives,  or  proposing  always  proper  end  and  aim. 

5.  Right  occupation,  or  outward  life  not  involving  sin. 

6.  Right  obedience,  or  faithful  observance  of  known  duty. 

7.  Right  memory,  or  proper  recollection  of  past  conduct. 


Non-Christian  Faiths  in  America     141 

The  conquests  of  Buddhism  have  been  greater, 
more  extended  and  more  lasting  than  those  of 
any  other  religion,  not  excepting  Christianity — 
and  except  Christianity  no  system  has  so  sharply 
emphasized  morality  and  duty  as  a  vital  part  of 
religion.  But  its  results  as  shown  in  the  present, 
and  where  it  has  had  complete  sway,  as  in  Ceylon, 
are  "  grossest  idolatry,  and  revolting  practices." 
Its  fruits  indicate  that  it  is  impotent  to  produce 
the  pure,  unselfish,  and  holy  lives  which  its  pre 
cepts  so  forcibly  portray.  The  Buddha  viewed 
life  only  as  a  snare  and  a  curse.  The  Christ 
speaks  of  its  noble  purposes,  its  splendid  op 
portunities,  its  eternal  possibilities,  as  bound  up 
with  His  own  life,  work,  and  future.  Where 
Buddha  taught  the  morality  of  renunciation, 
Christ  presents  also  the  ideal  of  a  life  no  longer 
to  self,  of  one  sacrificed  and  surrendered,  but 
only  as  a  preliminary  to  resurrection  to  higher 
being,  found  again  in  a  holier  personality. 
Where  Buddhism  presents  as  its  highest  con 
ception  separation  from  the  affairs  of  life,  Chris- 

8.  Right  meditation,  or  keeping  the  mind  fixed  on  perma 
nent  truth. 

All  these  are  good  objects  for  the  strivings  of  men.  The 
Buddha  did  not  deny  the  reality  of  sin,  or  the  gulf  fixed  be 
tween  man  while  he  wilfully  chooses  the  evil,  and  the  holy  God 
who  is  altogether  good,  if  there  be  a  God.  He  offers  these 
eight  steps  over  the  chasm  of  separation,  but  he  claims  no 
power  to  help  the  longing  soul  in  its  faltering  passage  other 
than  by  his  example  and  his  precepts. 


142     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

tianity  seeks  to  permeate  and  sanctify  the  lowliest 
tasks  by  the  spirit  and  power  of  a  God  who  is 
Redeemer,  Helper  and  Father. 

THEOSOPHY 

Theosophy,  which  is,  in  essence,  and  as  far  as 
it  is  a  religion,  "  esoteric  Buddhism,"  is  not  a 
system  afar  off,  with  which  only  foreign  mission 
aries  have  to  deal;  in  its  ancient  form  it  has 
come  to  us  with  its  Chinese  and  Japanese 
adherents,  in  its  modern  it  is  spreading  rapid  y 
throughout  our  land.  Theosophy  was  introduced 
into  America  in  1875  by  Madame  H.  P.  Blavat- 
sky,  who  founded  a  society  in  New  York  in  that 
year,  and,  later,  one  in  Boston.  "  Realizing  the 
limited  time  she  had  in  this  one  incarnation," 
writes  a  friend,  "and  the  awful  need  of  the  world, 
the  spiritual  pride  and  darkness,  the  people  cry 
ing  for  a  light  to  guide  them,  she  sacrificed  her 
self  at  times  almost  recklessly  "  in  her  effort  "  to 
bring  Theosophy  to  the  attention  of  all  people 
and  make  it  a  telling  power  in  the  world." 

She  found  a  devoted  adherent  and  helper  in 
William  Q.  Judge,  first  a  student,  later  a  col 
league,  finally  her  successor  in  carrying  on  the 
work.  Col.  H.  S.  Olcott  was  also  an  associate  in 
the  early  movement  but  not  so  trusted  or  helpful. 
In  1888  Mr.  Judge  formed  a  society  for  students 
called  "  The  Esoteric  School  of  Theosophy." 

Madame  Blavatsky  died  in  1893,  chiefly,  her 


Non-Christian  Faiths  in  America     143 

friends  claim,  from  the  strain  of  overwork  and 
the  fierce  opposition  directed  against  her  and  her 
movement. 

Shortly  before  Madame  Blavatsky's  death,  Mrs. 
Annie  Besant  came  to  her  for  instruction.  Later, 
she  became  a  professedly  ardent  member  of  the 
society.  After  the  death  of  its  founder  a  contest 
arose  as  to  whether  William  Judge,  chosen  by 
Madame  Blavatsky,  or  Mrs.  Besant,  chosen  by 
herself,  should  be  leader  in  America.  The  action 
of  the  Aryan  Society  of  New  York  and  the  Bos 
ton  Society  caused  the  choice  for  president  for 
life  to  fall  upon  Mr.  Judge,  and  Mrs.  Besant  and 
her  associates  were  repudiated  by  the  original 
society.  It  is  due  to  this  event  that  the  census 
shows  four  Theosophical  Societies  in  1906,  in 
stead  of  one,  as  in  1890.*  Mr.  Judge  died  in 
1896  and  was  succeeded  by  Mrs.  Katharine 
Tingley,  the  present  head  of  the  organization  at 
Point  Loma,  in  Southern  California. 

The  original  objects  of  Madame  Blavatsky's 
society  were — "  I.  To  form  the  nucleus  of  a 
'  Universal  Brotherhood  of  Humanity,'  without 
distinction  of  race,  colour,  or  creed. 

1  Theosophical  Society  in  America;  Theosophical  Society, 
New  York;  Theosophical  Society,  American  Section  ;  Universal 
Brotherhood  and  Theosophical  Society  (situated  at  Point 
Loma,  California)  with  a  branch  called  the  Aryan  Society. 
Available  statistics  for  this  division  (1906)  show  eighty-five  or 
ganizations,  with  over  twenty-five  hundred  adherents. 


144     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

"  2.  To  promote  the  study  of  Aryan  a:id 
other  Scriptures  of  the  world's  religions  and 
sciences,  and  to  vindicate  the  importance  of  old 
Asiatic  literature,  the  Brahmanical,  Buddhist 
and  Zoroastrian  philosophies. 

"  3.  To  investigate  the  hidden  mysteries  of 
nature  under  every  aspect  possible,  and  the 
psychic  and  spiritual  powers  latent  in  man  es 
pecially." 

It  is  this  third  section  which  opens  the  door  to 
the  esoteric  mysteries  and  occult  practices  of  the 
cult. 

"  The  Universal  Brotherhood  "  always  refuses 
to  give  statistics ;  it  claims  «•  a  vast  number  of 
members  at  large  who,  although  they  may  siill 
retain  affiliation  with  other  religious  bodies,  are 
in  entire  sympathy  with  the  movement  in  both 
belief  and  object."  Mrs.  Tingley  claims  that  the 
number  of  adherents  was  trebled  in  the  first  two 
years  of  her  leadership,  and  was  increased  fivefold 
during  1910.  This  division  is  certainly  the  most 
active  and  aggressive  in  the  country.  As  it  pro 
claims  itself  to  be  the  only  real  exponent  of  a 
true  "  wisdom  religion,"  an  account  of  its  work 
as  drawn  from  its  own  published  statements  will 
give  us  the  clearest  understanding  of  Theosophy 
in  America. 

The  organization  at  Point  Loma  consists  of  the 
School  of  Antiquity,  which  numbers  among 
those  who  sit  at  the  feet  of  Katharine  Tingley  to 


Non-Christian  Faiths  in  America     145 

learn  from  her  the  way  of  life,  "  men  and  women 
from  all  walks  of  life  and  every  profession ;  musi 
cians,  artists,  writers,  physicians,  ministers, 
lawyers,  engineers,  business  men,  craftsmen  and 
artisans."  A  School  of  Antiquity  Temple  is  to 
be  erected  for  classes  and  religious  rites. 

The  Aryan  branch  has  a  press  which  with  ever- 
increasing  facilities  is  utterly  unable  to  keep  pace 
with  the  enormous  demand  for  Theosophical 
literature.  Both  this  Aryan  Society,  and  the 
School  of  Antiquity  have  large  libraries  of  rare 
and  valuable  books.  It  is  said  that  "  Point  Loma 
is  destined  to  be,  and  has  already  become  a  great 
seat  of  learning  where  are  being  studied  the 
deeper  and  inner  teachings  of  the  great  science  of 
Life,  Theosophy,"  and  "  that  its  students  are  en 
gaged  in  many  lines  of  deeper  research  that  have 
a  profound  significance  in  regard  to  the  future 
welfare  of  humanity." 

Indeed,  the  chief  significance  of  Point  Loma 
as  a  religious  and  social  factor  lies  in  this  student 
life.  In  addition  to  her  adult  students,  Mrs. 
Tingley  is  bringing  into  the  home  hundreds  of 
children — chiefly  orphans  but  sometimes  given 
by  their  parents,  or  parent.  These  are  gathered 
largely  from  Cuba  or  distant  places.  She  is 
educating  and  training  them  to  carry  the  gospel 
of  the  "  Wisdom  Religion  "  through  this  and  all 
other  lands.  "  From  this  world  centre  and  inter 
national  headquarters  the  work  of  this  vast  or- 


146     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

ganization  is  carried  on  in  all  parts  of  the  world," 
say  the  official  reports  of  Point  Loma. 

At  the  Edinburgh  Conference  it  was  stated 
that  "  Theosophy,  with  its  subtle  ingenuity  ard 
plausible  casuistry,  is  a  great  hindrance  to  the 
acceptance  of  Christianity  in  India."  As  it  is 
largely  spreading  in  America,  let  us  look  at  the 
real  teachings  of  this  "  Wisdom  of  the  Ancients." 

Madame  Blavatsky,  in  her  "  Key  to  Theos 
ophy,"  denies  that  Theosophy,  in  its  essence,  is 
the  same  as  the  religion  instituted  by  Gautama 
Buddha.  She  claimed  more  Hindus  and  Chris 
tian-born  Europeans  and  Americans  among  hor 
followers  than  native,  or  converted,  Buddhists. 
The  present  leaders  in  the  cult  state  that  it  is  not, 
strictly  speaking,  a  religious  system  at  all  except 
as  it  embodies  the  "  Ancient  Wisdom  Religion." 
They  assert  that  this  "  wisdom  "  has  its  source  in 
holy  Ancients  who  still  live,  although  un 
numbered  centuries  old,  in  isolated  mountains  in 
India,  and  who  have  transmitted  the  truth  by 
word  of  mouth  from  one  to  another  capable  of 
receiving  and  teaching  it.  Madame  Blavatsky 
claimed  that  she  and  Mr.  Judge  had  received  this 
truth  direct  from  its  source. 

But  Madame  Blavatsky,  in  her  "  Key  to  Theos 
ophy,"  does  not  deny  that  the  ethical  teaching 
of  Theosophy  is  identical  with  that  of  Buddhism  ; 
that  she  herself  is  a  Buddhist ;  and  that  the  Buddha 
received  the  religious  philosophy  and  esoteric  be- 


Non-Christian  Faiths  in  America     147 

liefs  which  underlay  his  teaching  from  the  same 
sources  as  this  "  Wisdom  Religion,"  or  Theos 
ophy.1 

In  a  broad  sense  Theosophy  may  not  be  a  re 
ligion,  but  in  its  deeper  relations,  as  clearly  shown 
at  Point  Loma,  it  has  a  system  of  religious  wor 
ship,  makes  distinct  claims  to  power  to  "  remove 
sorrow  and  heartache  from  the  world  "  and  to 
"  serve  and  save  humanity."  It  also  opposes  it 
self  to  Christianity  and  all  other  religious  systems 
as  "  far  grander,  and  more  noble,  more  philosoph 
ical  and  scientific  than  any  other  church  or  re 
ligion."  Mrs.  Tingley  distinctly  places  it  as  a 
standard  of  comparison  "  whereby  all  faiths  are 
tried  ;  all  systems  of  religion,  philosophy  or  gov 
ernment  shall  abide  or  fall ;  the  basis  of  every 
world-faith."  She  declares  "  the  destruction  of 
Christianity  as  so  complete  that  the  onlooker 
may  be  excused  for  perplexity  in  trying  to  dis 
tinguish  between  the  thing  itself  and  the  sepa 
rated  fragments."  We  are  therefore  justified  in 
regarding  this  "  Ancient  Wisdom "  known  as 
Theosophy  as  a  rival  of  the  religion  of  Christ ; 
and  even  while  claiming  to  interfere  with  no  re 
ligious  belief  or  profession  of  those  who  accept 

1  One  distinction  Madame  Blavatsky  emphasizes  between  the 
teaching  of  Theosophy  and  that  of  Esoteric  Buddhism.  The 
latter  seems  to  deny  the  existence  of  any  Diety  ;  any  conscious 
life  after  death  ;  or  any  individuality  in  man  which  could  have 
self-conscious  continuance.  These  things  Theosophy  does  not 
deny — even  if  not  positively  affirming  them. 


148     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

its  teachings,  in  reality  it  sooner  or  later  dra  .vs 
them  away  from  such  beliefs  or  professions  into 
its  own  ranks. 

The  crucial  test  of  all  religions  is  found  in  their 
conception  of  God.  The  first  question  may  be, 
"  What  kind  of  a  God  does  this  religion  present  J " 
Theosophy  presents  a  God  who  is  "  the  One  Li  re, 
the  Eternal  Essence,  the  same  in  every  manifes 
tation,  in  stone,  or  plant,  or  animal,  or  shines 
glorified  from  the  brain  of  man."  In  common 
with  Brahmanism  that  "  Eternal  Essence  "  is  not 
a  personal  but  a  pantheistic  God. 

It  is  claimed  that  Theosophy  can  "  serve  and 
save  humanity,"  and  the  means  of  this  salvation 
are  found  in  "  karma  and  reincarnation,  the  tv/o 
great  truths  which  the  world  especially  needs  for 
its  salvation."  "  Karma  "  is  the  law  of  nature 
which  corresponds  to  the  law  of  cause  and  effect. 
But  Theosophy  really  looks  to  the  power  behind 
that  law  as  its  all-powerful  but  entirely  impersonal 
God. 

All  forms  of  Brahmanism  and  Buddhism  have 
as  an  integral  part  a  belief  in  reincarnation,  or 
successive  rebirths  in  different  forms,  conditioned 
by  the  kind  of  life  lived  in  the  preceding  incar 
nation.  The  expounders  of  Theosophy  say, 
"  Reincarnation  is  the  promise  of  human  perfec 
tion,  or  human  advance  to  the  status  of  gods." 
"  To  think  out  and  fashion  one's  life  according  to 
this  great  fact  and  all  that  it  implies  is  the  way 


Non-Christian  Faiths  in  America     149 

to  find  the  soul,  that  divine  thing  which  appears 
to  act  so  undivinely  when  its  purity  is  veiled  by 
the  impulses  of  the  body  it  enters.  The  law  of 
reincarnation  or  rebirth  is  a  necessary  part  of 
the  scheme  of  the  universe;  the  problems  of 
man's  nature  and  life  cannot  be  understood  with 
out  it." 

Theosophy  agrees  with  our  Bible  in  its  under 
standing  of  the  body  as  "  the  clothing,  or  home, 
and  instrument  of  the  soul."  "  It  is  because 
he  is  higher  than  the  body,  higher  than  the 
mind,  higher  than  the  emotions,  that  man — the 
soul — can  control  them  all,  though  ordinarily  he 
is  content  to  be  controlled  by  them."  But  in 
Theosophy  man  works  out  his  own  salvation 
without  aid  from  without.  "  Man's  only  way  to 
win  his  great  hope  and  to  know  the  truth  is  to 
seize  hold  on  himself,  assert  and  realize  his  po 
tentially  all-dominating  soul-existence." 

It  is  through  this  understanding  of  the  power 
of  the  soul  over  the  body  that  Theosophy  has 
built  up  its  system  of  an  "  astral  "  life  and  the  ca 
pacity  of  the  soul  to  entirely  free  itself  for  longer 
or  shorter  periods,  as  it  wills,  from  the  limitations 
of  the  body. 

The  law  of  Fraternity  is  stated  to  be  "  the  one 
law  by  which  man  breaks  away  the  web  of  self, 
knowing  and  becoming  all  that  is."  Theosophy 
claims  to  be  "  the  knowledge  of  the  laws  that 
govern  the  evolution  of  the  physical,  astral,  psy- 


150     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

chical,  and  intellectual  constituents  of  nature  and 
of  man,  the  key  to  all  questions  and  problems,  an 
open  door  to  all  that  the  heart  of  man  desires." 

But  "  by  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them." 
Mrs.  Besant,  perhaps  the  best  known  exponent 
of  the  system,  says,  "  It  does  not  matter  what  the 
name  is,  so  long  as  a  person  is  proclaiming  the 
truths  of  reincarnation  and  karma,  and  the  possi 
bilities  of  the  spiritual.  This  is  the  great  work 
of  Theosophy."  Mrs.  Tingley,  however,  affirms 
that  "  the  spread  of  Theosophy  depends  first  of 
all  on  the  life  and  character  of  those  who  profess 
it,"  and  she  strives  with  varying  success  to  hold 
those  who  yield  to  her  as  leader  and  guide  "  to 
pure  life  and  right  conduct,  carrying  out  the 
truths  of  Theosophy  in  every-day  life."  These 
truths,  as  we  have  seen,  have  no  place  for  a  per 
sonal  God  who  redeems  men ;  for  sinful  men 
needing  a  Saviour ;  or  for  a  "  place  prepared  "  to 
receive  the  released  soul.  Yet  Theosophy  with 
its  gospel  of  salvation  by  perpetual  rebirth  is  ap 
pealing  to  increasing  thousands  as  the  Wisdom 
of  the  Ancients  by  which  all  truth  must  stand  or 
fall. 

HINDUISM 

The  Vedantic  philosophy  also  has  its  head 
quarters  in  California  (at  Los  Angeles),  where 
dwells  its  chief  expounder,  Baba  Bharati,  an 
Eastern  "  holy  man."  It  holds  sessions  each 


BABA  BHARATI 
BUDDHIST  TEMPLE,  SEATTLE,  WASHINGTON 


Non-Christian  Faiths  in  America     151 

year  for  teaching  and  propagation  at  the  Sum 
mer  School  at  Green  Acre,  Maine.  It  was  in 
troduced  into  America  at  the  Parliament  of  Re 
ligions  held  at  the  World's  Fair  at  Chicago  in 
1893  by  Svvami  Vivekananda,  but  no  organiza 
tion  was  formed  until  about  1898.  At  that  par 
liament  many  of  the  religious  conceptions  of  the 
East  were  so  beautifully  presented  by  devout  ex 
pounders  of  fascinating  personality,  that  many 
were  led  not  only  to  wider  sympathies  and 
broader  understanding  of  non-Christian  faiths, 
but  also  to  accept  them  as  equal  with,  or  superior 
to,  the  teachings  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Human  nature  is  essentially  religious.  All 
history  and  tradition  has  shown  that  the  primal 
instinct  of  man  has  always  been  to  reach  out 
towards  the  unseen ;  to  seek  a  power  higher, 
stronger,  and  more  abiding  than  himself,  whom 
he  can  worship  and  adore.  All  Eastern  religious 
thinking  is  founded  on  this  inherent  need  and 
demand  of  the  human  soul  and  presents  some  of 
the  profoundest  responses  to  that  need  found 
outside  the  revelations  of  Jesus  Christ. 

The  Vedanta  philosophy  is  founded  on  and 
embodies  the  teachings  of  the  Upanishads — the 
last  book  of  the  Vedas,  the  most  ancient  writings 
of  India.  These  are  generally  recognized  by 
all  Hindus  as  the  highest  authority  on  all  re 
ligious  questions.  "Veda"  in  its  widest  sense 
means  knowledge.  The  Vedas,  which  constitute 


152     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

the  Bible  of  the  Brahmans.are  divided  into  three 
sections — (a)  a  collection  of  poems  and  metrical 
prayers  for  ritual  use ;  (fy  prose  writings  on  the 
forms  of  sacrifice;  (c)  books  intended  for  quiet 
study  and  deep  thinking.  Of  this  last  section 
the  Upanishads  are  the  climax  and  most  impor 
tant.  These  constitute  a  series  of  philosophical 

treatises   in   which  the   ancient  gods  of  India 

taught  in  the  Vedas — are  set  at  naught,  and  the 
entire  ritual  and  sacrificial  system  is  denounced 
as  useless,  or  mischievous.  These  Upanishads 
are  also  in  poetic  form,  and  mark  for  the  Hind  a 
the  last  stage  of  religious  thinking,  in  which  the 
external  forms  and  teachings  suitable  for  the 
child  are  replaced  for  the  grown  man  by  the 
very  essence  of  the  truth  divinely  revealed  which 
he  has  been  prepared  to  receive  and  understand. 
Brahmanism  teaches  three  stages  of  life.  The 
first  is  one  of  discipline,  when  the  child  and  youth 
is  under  tutelage  and  instruction,  and  must  im 
plicitly  obey.  In  the  second  the  youth  becomes 
a  man,  and  as  husband,  father,  and  householder, 
must  perform  all  duties  in  accordance  with  the 
teachings  of  the  Vedas  and  law  books,  in  which 
he  has  been  thoroughly  instructed.  In  the  third 
period,  that  of  old  age,  a  Hindu  is  permitted  to 
leave  wife  and  children,  and  all  active  life,  and  to 
be  absolved  from  all  religious  outward  observ 
ances,  that  he  may  find  with  self-denials  and 
penances,  in  retirement  and  meditation,  the  solu- 


Non-Christian  Faiths  in  America     153 

tion  of  the  supreme  problems  of  life  and  death, 
and  the  answer  to  the  greatest  of  all  mysteries — 
the  organization  of  the  universe  out  of  nothing. 
In  this  period  of  concentrated  thought,  he  studies 
only  the  Upanishads  and  Vedantic  philosophy, 
and,  rejecting  all  the  gods  to  whom  he  has 
prayed  in  former  periods,  he  makes  room  for 
the  one  Supreme  Being  whom  he  knows  as 
Brahman  or  Brahm. 

Vedantism  is  one  of  six  orthodox  systems  of 
Hindu  thought.  The  avowed  object  of  the 
Upanishads  and  Vedantism  is  a  search  for  the 
one  Supreme  God,  with  the  end  of  liberating  the 
soul  of  man  from  all  which  separates  it  from 
complete  union  with  the  Eternal  Brahman. 
Brahman  originally  meant  the  power  of  devotion 
as  expressed  in  prayer,  and  especially  in  sacri 
fice  ;  later  it  became  the  power  on  which  even 
the  gods  depended — that  is,  the  power  behind 
both  gods  and  the  world,  the  eternal  principle  of 
All  Being.  Brahm  is  in  no  sense  a  personality. 
Brahmanism  is  fundamentally  pantheistic.  By 
the  ignorant — to  whom  the  Upanishads  is  a  for 
bidden  book — Brahm  may  be  worshipped  as  a 
conditioned  personal  God,  without  harm  or  loss 
to  the  worshipper ;  but  by  the  wise  he  is  known 
to  be  high  above  all  conditions  and  limits  in 
personality.  The  Universe  is  but  the  great  effect 
of  which  he  is  the  great  cause. 

In  Vedantic  thought  that  which  we  call  "  the 


154     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

world"  is  of  our  own  making,  with  no  existence 
apart  from  ourselves  ;  "  a  dream  "  the  Vedant  st 
loves  to  call  it,  with  reality  only  as  it  and  we  be 
come  absorbed  in,  and  a  part  of  Brahm.  The 
soul  of  man,  or  "  the  living  self,"  has  no  existence 
or  reality  apart  from  Brahm  ;  its  salvation  con 
sists  in  recognition  of  this  fact,  and  consequent 
freedom  from  the  evil  of  rebirth.  This  differs 
essentially  from  Theosophy,  which  conceives  of 
constant  rebirth  on  earth  as  the  only  means  :>f 
salvation.  How  much  higher  than  either  is  the 
teaching  of  Jesus  concerning  that  new  birth  to  a 
truer  life  which  is  the  door  into  the  life  hid  with 
Him  in  God,  in  the  service  of  humanity. 

The  only  immortality  for  the  Vedantist  con 
sists  in  "  atman — the  self — knowing  itself  and 
becoming  assimilated  with  Brahm."  The  way  to 
attain  to  this  is  to  renounce  all  the  activities  of 
life  and  to  remain  while  here  in  a  state  of  per 
petual  meditation.  Gautama  Buddha  carried  this 
farther,  into  the  renunciation  of  all  desire. 

There  is  much  in  the  message  of  Brahmanism 
which  makes  for  other- worldliness  in  the  lives  of  its 
adherents.  But  how  can  it  reach  the  heart  and  the 
need  of  men  as  does  the  revelation  of  the  Christ  of 
the  Father  God — the  Eternal  Personality  in  whom 
alone  our  personalities  find  their  real  completion 
and  being  ?  How  different  the  attitude  of  the 
teachers  of  Brahmanism  towards  those  of  lower 
caste  to  whom  they  close  the  sacred  books  from 


Non-Christian  Faiths  in  America     155 

that  of  Jesus  whom  the  "  common  people  heard 
gladly "  !  How  different  the  road  of  salvation 
finding  its  highest  goal  in  total  extinction,  to  the 
way  through  truth  to  fullness  of  life  which  He 
opened  for  all  who  would  come  to  God  by  Him ! 

Vedantism  claims  to  be  a  religion  as  well  as  a 
philosophy,  and  in  this  it  differs  from  all  other 
philosophies.  As  a  religion  it  is  best  studied  in 
its  present  home  in  Los  Angeles  under  Baba 
Bharati.  But  because  it  is  stretching  out  from 
that  home  to  draw  to  itself  from  all  sections  of 
the  land,  it  becomes  an  important  subject  of 
study  to  us. 

The  leading  exponent  of  Vedantism  in  America 
is  Baba  Bharati. 

In  1902  the  New  York  Herald  announced  that 
"  a  holy  man  from  India  has  come  to  New  York 
to  make  converts  to  his  faith,"  which  is  "  Love  for 
all  men."  This  "  holy  man  "  was  Baba  Bharati, 
a  "  lama,"  or  hill  hermit,  from  Thibet.  For  two 
years  after  this  announcement  the  Baba  taught 
and  lectured,  and  in  1904  he  was  chosen  vice- 
president  for  India  at  the  Peace  Congress  held  in 
Boston.  At  the  Congress  his  eloquent  plea  for 
peace  made  a  deep  impression,  but  that  was  only 
an  incident  of  his  mission  to  America.  He  had 
"  come  to  make  converts  to  his  faith."  This  faith 
he  declared  to  be  "  the  knowledge  and  worship  of 
the  Lord  Sni  Krishna,"  "  the  best  calculated,"  he 
declared,  "  to  satisfy  the  deep  craving  of  human 


156     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

nature  for  a  high  and  personal  conception  of  the 
Deity."  In  his  teaching  the  Baba  refused  to  "  fit 
his  truths  to  Western  minds,  but  held  unswerv 
ingly  to  eternal,  unadulterated  Hinduism."  "  I 
have  come,"  he  said  in  response  to  criticism  cf 
this  course,  "  not  to  make  money,  but  on  a  mis 
sion.  I  have  come  to  teach  Hinduism  by  the  halo 
of  its  own  brilliancy,  and  not  to  westernize  il . 
Those  who  want  the  wisdom  of  the  East  will 
have  that  as  it  is." 

And  for  just  that  pupils  came  in  increasing 
numbers.  He  opened  a  class  in  New  York  ol 
"a  few  souls  hungry  for  the  truths  the  Ancients 
have  tried  and  not  found  wanting,  and  which  the 
fortunate  Hindus  have  embraced  and  absorbed  in 
their  daily  living."  "  Doctors  and  artists,  writers 
of  note,  teachers  and  clergymen,  followers  of  dif 
ferent  creeds  and  students  of  the  higher  life,  came 
to  him  to  learn  of  the  truth  of  the  Ancients," 
and  went  away  claiming  to  have  "  a  better  under 
standing  of  their  own  beliefs,"  but  also  a  firm  be 
lief  that  "  his  thought  is  the  Science  of  God  and 
man."  They  felt  that  it  brought  to  them  an  "  il 
lumination  that  bound  them  heart  and  soul  for 
ever  to  the  spiritual  saint  who  was  giving  to  them 
a  wisdom  as  deep  as  the  ocean  and  limitless  as 
space." 

This  wisdom  largely  consists,  besides  the  gen 
eral  Vedantic  philosophy,  of  the  religion  of  the 
Lord  Krishna.  His  pupils  testify  that  the  Baba 


Non-Christian  Faiths  in  America     157 

lived  only  to  give  "  the  love  of  his  Lord  Krishna, 
the  sayings  of  Krishna  in  the  Geeta — the  stories  of 
the  immortals — and  last,  not  least,  the  wonderful 
life  of  Chaitanye  to  the  Western  world."  Every 
class  opened  and  closed  its  sessions  with  a  chant 
to  the  name  of  this  Lord,  and  it  was  noted  as  "  a 
rare  and  unique  thing  to  hear  Americans  chant 
ing  the  Sanscrit  mantras  and  praising  the  name 
of  a  god  who,  until  Baba's  coming,  was  almost 
unknown  here." 

In  addition  to  these  classes  he  began  lecturing 
at  Green  Acre  in  the  third  year  of  his  residence 
in  America,  and  the  "  fervour  of  his  oratory,  the 
wisdom  of  his  impassioned  sentiments,  and  the 
great  throbbing  love  that  clothed  each  appeal  and 
criticism,"  secured  for  him  plaudits  of  the  press 
and  the  public,  and  opened  to  him  platforms  and 
halls  in  all  directions.  After  the  Congress  he 
settled  in  Boston,  where  he  formed  classes  and 
delivered  lectures  for  over  a  year — attended  by 
representative  men  and  women.  He  also  pro 
mulgated  his  teachings  widely  through  magazines 
and  books,  notably  one  on  "  Krishna,  Lord  of 
Love,"  which  many  of  his  followers  call  the 
"  Bible  of  the  Twentieth  Century,"  others,  the 
"  History  of  God  and  Man,"  and  others,  the  "  in 
spired  and  beloved  Book."  His  students  claim 
that  never  a  day  is  allowed  to  pass  without  read 
ing  a  portion  of  this  book  in  which  is  found  "just 
the  supply  to  fill  the  need  of  that  day." 


158     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

In  1906  the  Baba  was  called  to  the  "  Venice 
Assembly" — the  Religious  Parliament,  held  n 
Los  Angeles — the  city  which  is  announced  t;o 
be  "  the  most  ready  and  ripe  for  a  spiritual  up 
heaval."  When  the  Parliament  dispersed,  the 
Baba  decided  that  Los  Angeles  offered  the  best 
field  for  the  establishment  of  the  Krishna  worship 
and  there  he  took  up  his  abode.  He  soon  started 
his  publication,  the  "  Light  of  India,"  which  it  is 
claimed  is  a  "  power  in  the  world  of  thought 
from  one  end  of  the  world  to  the  other."  Here 
he  opened  his  Krishna  Home,  in  which  the  in 
mates  form  a  community,  living  as  close  to  the 
ascetic  life  as  possible.  The  food  is  in  accord 
with  Hindu  vegetarianism ;  the  rules  and  regula 
tions  are  those  of  Hindu  monasteries  ;  the  atmos 
phere  is  "  alive  with  vibrations  of  love,  and  none 
who  enters  there  fails  to  go  away  blessed,  and  a 
lover  of  Krishna."  In  addition  to  this  home  he 
has  made  a  temple  in  which  are  enshrined  Radha, 
Krishna  and  Chaitanye,  gods  of  India,  and  to  which 
crowds  are  still  coming  daily  to  hear  his  lectures 
and  to  sing  the  "  Song  to  the  Lord."  Here  each 
morning  gathers  a  circle  of  devotees  of  Krishna, 
and  each  evening  these  go  into  spiritual  ecstasy  at 
the  name  of  Krishna,  as  the  evening  song  of  adora 
tion,  called  the  "  Arati,"  is  sung  with  ceremonies 
of  waving  lights  as  millions  sing  it  in  India. 

After  five  years  in  America  Baba  Bharati  re 
turned  to  his  native  land,  carrying  with  him  a 


Non-Christian  Faiths  in  America     159 

devoted  band  of  his  disciples  to  learn  more  of 
Hindu  religion  at  the  fountainhead.  It  was 
claimed  that  he  left  behind  him  five  thousand 
converts  to  his  faith,  drawn  from  among  the 
most  cultured  and  educated  of  America.  One 
writes,  "  Whatever  may  be  the  views  of  the 
majority  regarding  his  philosophy,  the  Baba's 
teachings  have  left  an  indelible  impression  in 
America.  The  world-old  religion,  from  which  he 
claims  all  religions  have  sprung,  has  spread  like 
the  banyan  and  become  firmly  rooted  in  Western 
soil." 

Baba  Bharati  did  not  intend  to  return  to 
America.  In  the  meeting  arranged  to  give  him 
farewell,  which  was  presided  over  by  a  former 
prominent  minister  of  the  Gospel,  the  "holy  man" 
said,  "  It  has  been  my  privilege  to  preach  to  you 
your  own  Christ  Jesus,  even  more  than  I  preached 
my  Krishna.  I  came  not  to  thrust  my  own 
religion  and  God  upon  you,  but  to  help  you  to 
understand  your  own  God  and  your  own  re 
ligion  ;  if  I  have  talked  of  Krishna  and  exposed 
to  you  the  truths  of  our  Bible — the  Vedas — and 
the  Hindu  philosophies,  it  was  only  to  illuminate 
the  teachings  of  your  own  Christ,  to  present  Him 
before  you  in  the  lime-light  of  the  Vedas,  and  the 
X-ray  of  our  scientific  philosophies." 

The  Baba  did  not  intend  to  return,  but  the 
cries  of  his  bereft  disciples  were  too  loud  and  in 
sistent  and  a  second  time,  in  1910,  he  left  his 


160     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

own  land  to  spend  the  rest  of  his  days  in  the 
land  of  his  adoption,  and  the  Home  of  his 
founding,  to  which  he  will  strive  to  draw  all 
those  who  wish  there  to  serve  and  worship  the 
God  of  his  love.  At  this  second  parting — prob 
ably  for  his  life — many  noted  countrymen 
gathered  in  Madras  to  bid  him  farewell.  In  the 
farewell  addresses  the  statement  was  made,  in 
explanation  of  the  Baba's  decision  to  work  in 
America  instead  of  among  his  own  countrymen, 
that  "  the  thought  of  the  West  was  so  tinged 
with  deep  materialism  that  the  East,  having 
learned  that  spirituality  which  alone  suffices  to 
preserve  a  nation,  and  the  West  having  learned 
that  there  are  truths  to  be  gleaned  from  study  of 
the  philosophy  and  religion  of  the  East — it  was 
fitting  that  this  holy  man  should  go  to  offer  to 
America  the  knowledge  of  this  religion  of  Asia. 
It  was  hoped  that  in  this  way  India  would  more 
surely  retain  its  own  faith,  as  the  acceptance  and 
endorsement  of  the  Hindu  faith  by  the  Western 
world  would  serve  to  give  it  new  power  and 
impetus  among  the  young  people  of  India." 

This  was  in  itself  a  new  departure  on  the  part 
of  Brahmanism.  Until  this  emphasis  on  its 
Vedantic  form  it  has  never  been  a  missionary 
religion,  never  tried  to  be  a  world  religion.  As 
an  incoherent  system  of  philosophy,  it  has  made 
its  exoteric  appeal  to  the  common  people,  but 
tried  to  reveal  its  deeper  truths  only  to  those  of 


Non-Christian  Faiths  in  America     161 

education  and  high  caste.  Its  claim  in  America 
is  based  on  the  same  distinction — that  it  draws 
to  itself  of  the  cultured  and  refined. 

So  Foreign  Missions  come  to  us.  The  old 
world  faiths  sometimes  tottering  to  their  fall  on 
their  native  soil  are  invading  our  land  in  new 
forms  and  with  renewed  vitality.  Borrowing  the 
methods  of  Christianity  ;  bowing  to  Jesus  Christ 
as  a  teacher  of  truth,  pure  life  and  high  ideals, 
though  always  claiming  Him  to  be  inferior  to 
their  own  founders  and  teachers  ;  interpreting 
His  teaching  and  claims  in  the  light  of  Eastern 
religious  thought,  they  draw  to  themselves  thou 
sands  with  the  assurance  that  the  new  need  not 
displace  the  old. 

Gradually,  however,  subtle  distinctions,  or  open 
contrasts,  weaken  the  hold  of  Christianity,  until 
it  is  openly  avowed  that  "  those  who  have  recog 
nized  in  the  old  Vedic  (or  Theosophic,  or  Babist) 
religion  the  very  essence  of  what  our  own 
Oriental  Christ  came  on  earth  to  teach,  have 
frankly  broken  away  from  creed  limitations  and 
are  boldly  preaching  under  a  more  liberal  banner, 
the  new,  or  the  original,  Vedanta  (the  Wisdom 
Religion),  in  all  its  subtle,  glorious  and  ancient 
philosophy." 

These  then  are  the  substitutes  offered  for  the 
religion  of  Jesus,  who  came  to  seek  and  to  save 
not  only  the  cultured  and  refined,  but  the  stray- 


162     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

ing  and  struggling  of  any  nation  or  class.  The 
day  is  past  when  those  who  do  not  follow  the 
religion  of  Christ  can  be  wholly  condemned  as 
"  idolaters  and  heathen."  Missionaries  of  the 
Cross  no  longer  go  to  foreign  people  with  a  mes 
sage  of  reproof  whose  chief  burden  is  condemna 
tion,  and  whose  aim  is  to  destroy  rather  than  to 
conserve  and  emphasize  the  truth  they  find  in 
other  religions.  Christian  students  and  thinkers 
recognize  that  any  religious  system  which  survives 
for  centuries  under  storm  and  stress,  meeting  in 
greater  or  less  degree  the  religious  needs  of  the 
human  heart,  must  have  at  its  core  something  of 
the  truth  of  God,  and  embody  some  message 
which  He  has  never  failed  to  give  to  all  those 
created  by  His  hand.  But  if  we  comprehend  at 
all  the  meaning  of  Christianity  and  the  claims  of 
the  Christ  we  must  hold  always  to  Him  as  su 
preme  leader ;  authoritative  teacher ;  true  revealer 
of  God,  and  His  incarnated  power  for  the  re 
demption  of  men. 

Only  as  America  holds  true  to  her  Christian 
ideals  in  prayerful  dependence  on  the  Most  High, 
and  seeks  from  His  word  light  on  her  path  to 
national  honour  and  place  among  the  nations, 
can  she  have  the  truth  and  power  with  which  to 
win  the  nations  for  our  Christ. 


VI 

CHRISTIAN  CONSERVATION 

Rev.  Charles  L.   Thompson^  D.  D. 


The  Christian  church  serves  the  best  and  highest  interests 
of  the  American  Republic.  First,  because  it  protects  a.id 
fosters  those  institutions  which  have  proved  a  blessing  to  the 
Republic.  Second,  because  it  keeps  before  the  people  the 
true  idea  with  regard  to  national  greatness  and  national 
strength. — DAVID  GREGG,  D.  D. 


VI 

CHRISTIAN  CONSERVATION 

THE  preceding  chapters  have  dealt  with 
the  conservation  of  various  American 
ideals.  It  is  the  aim  of  this  closing 
chapter  to  trace  the  development  of  those  ideals 
in  our  national  life  and  to  show  how  far  our 
history  has  made  for  their  conservation.  To  be 
true  to  one's  ideals,  that,  for  a  man  or  a  people, 
is  the  condition  of  progress.  The  well-worn 
aphorism  of  hitching  one's  wagon  to  a  star  sug 
gests  the  value  of  trying  to  realize  one's  best 
visions.  If  they  lose  their  hold  upon  us,  if  they 
cease  to  have  power  to  command  us,  we  become 
the  easy  prey  of  whatever  adverse  influences  may 
beset  us.  This,  so  true  of  the  individual,  is 
equally  true  of  the  nation. 

What,  now,  have  been  our  national  stars  ? 
What  principles,  or  ideals,  may  we  discover  in 
the  beginnings  of  our  history  which  it  is  worth 
our  while,  as  a  people,  to  guard  and  transmit  ? 
We  shall  best  learn  by  glancing  for  a  moment  at 
the  nerve  ideas  which  we  have  as  a  national 
heritage.  Whence  did  we  come,  and  what 
freighted  our  ships  besides  the  pioneer  men  and 
women  ? 

165 


l66     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

Unless  principles  enter  into  a  nation's  life  it 
remains  a  wilderness.  And  these  principles  ar* 
easily  discerned.  The  one  great  reason  for  ,i 
nation  on  these  shores — expressed  in  most 
general  terms — is  civil  and  religious  liberty. 
That  is  a  foundation  granite  enough  for  any 
superstructure.  Since  the  Hebrew  Common 
wealth  no  other  people  has  had  so  distinct  aa 
origin.  The  underlying  principles  came  to  us 
from  European  battle-fields  for  intellectual  and 
religious  freedom.  They  came  from  Holland, 
France  and  Great  Britain.  They  are  trace 
able  farther  back  to  Geneva — the  fertile  source 
of  modern  ideas  of  popular  education  and 
democratic  government.  Those  principles  be 
came  the  groundwork  of  our  national  life  and 
they  are  mighty  enough  to  shape  to  noble  ends 
every  phase  and  reach  of  that  life.  The  seeds 
brought  in  the  Mayflower  have  germinal  power 
enough  to  produce  a  harvest  of  noble  conduct  to 
the  end  of  time. 

Ideals  imply  personality.  We  shall  under 
stand  them  better  if  we  glance  at  the  type  of 
manhood  in  which  our  early  history  was  ex 
pressed.  The  colonial  stock  was  the  winnowing 
of  the  best  life  of  Europe — men  not  unworthy  to 
claim  Calvin  and  Knox  and  their  compeers  as 
their  intellectual  and  spiritual  fathers.  It  is 
much  the  fashion  in  these  broad  days  to  sneer  at 
men  of  the  Calvin  type.  In  our  liberal  mental 


Christian  Conservation  167 

latitudes  we  conceive  of  the  Puritan  as  narrow 
and  intolerant.  But  as  the  Genevese  reformer, 
in  that  vigour  of  manhood  which  our  easy-going 
days  can  scarcely  comprehend,  made  new 
channels  for  a  world's  thinking,  so  the  Puritans 
by  a  fine  severity  smote  rocks  in  the  wilderness, 
that  life-giving  streams  might  fertilize  the  land. 

But  we  shall  mistake  if,  in  our  appreciation  of 
Puritan  character,  we  fail  to  recognize  the  other 
elements  which  entered  into  our  composite 
nationality.  The  Dutch,  the  Huguenots,  the 
Germans,  the  Scotch  and  the  Irish  gave  us  leaders 
worthy  of  their  sires  who  on  Holland  flats,  on 
French  fields,  on  German  hills  and  Scottish 
moors  fought  for  those  eternal  principles  we 
cherish  to-day.  We  speak  of  the  strain  that 
is  put  on  our  country  now  by  the  diversity  of 
our  population.  But  diversity  has  characterized 
us  ever — has  made  us  what  we  are — and  may  be 
trusted  to  make  us  what  we  should  be. 

What,  now,  are  some  of  the  ideals  brought 
hither  and  cherished  here  by  the  strong  characters 
to  which  we  look  back  as  our  most  precious 
heritage  ? 

i.  The  ideal  of  a  theocratic  government — a 
government  which  should  recognize  God  only  as 
the  supreme  head  of  the  nation.  The  sovereign 
personality  of  God  was  stamped  on  our  begin 
nings.  Though  sometimes  denied,  the  records 
of  it  are  abundant  and  explicit.  We  read  it  not 


168     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

only  in  the  prayers  of  the  Mayflower  and  the 
religion  of  the  Jamestown  colonists,  but  emphatic 
ally  in  public  documents  and  addresses  in  early 
colonial  history.  John  Adams,  when  the  fate  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  hung  in  the 
balance  of  debate,  declared :  "  It  is  the  will  of 
heaven  that  Britain  and  America  should  be 
sundered  forever."  Jefferson  writing  the  Declara 
tion  traced  American  destiny  to  "  the  laws  of 
Nature  and  Nature's  God,"  and  the  "pledge  of 
life,  fortune  and  sacred  honour  "  is  made  sacred 
by  "  firm  reliance  on  Divine  Providence."  More 
distinctly  still,  the  Constitution  of  the  thirteen 
states  made  the  idea  of  God  the  corner-stone, 
some  of  them  declaring  essential  "  a  belief  in  God, 
the  Creator  and  Governor  of  the  universe."  If 
ever  shall  come  the  time  when  the  idea  of  God 
shall  be  dim  in  the  popular  thought,  when  the 
tonic  of  it  shall  be  less  in  our  theology,  and  the 
reason  for  it  fade  from  our  philosophy,  we  shall 
need  only  to  uncover  colonial  history  to  see  it 
shine  again — the  one  supreme  conception  in  our 
early  national  thinking. 

Perhaps  we  are  coming  on  times  when  this 
ideal  of  the  government  of  God  in  human  affairs 
needs  to  be  conserved.  We  are  in  these  days 
writing  man  so  large — his  capacity  and  his 
achievements — that  we  are  in  danger  of  losing 
the  nerve  thought  of  a  divine  presence,  which 
alone  gives  highest  potency  to  man's  thinking  or 


Christian  Conservation  169 

doing.  We  can  afford,  as  a  people,  to  be  wholly 
tolerant  of  philosophic  and  theological  vagaries 
that  do  not  touch  this  nerve.  Indeed,  we  cannot 
afford  not  to  be  thus  tolerant.  But  if  we  would 
keep  the  stream  of  our  national  life  clear  for 
highest  thinking  and  noblest  action,  there  must 
be  no  shading  of  the  idea  of  God  as  the  source 
of  our  life,  and  our  only  sufficient  guide  in  all 
that  concerns  national  well-being.  We  shall  lose 
our  wisdom  if  we  leave  God  out  of  our  counsels. 
We  shall  lose  our  victories  of  every  sort  if  we 
dethrone  Him  from  His  place  in  our  affairs. 
What  God  was  to  Israel  when  He  flamed  before 
their  armies — what  He  has  been  in  every  great 
march  of  human  progress — that  must  He  be  to 
us,  if  we  are  to  keep  any  leadership  in  the  move 
ments  of  the  world.  Let  us  hold  the  vigour  of 
that  theocratic  ideal.  A  system  of  philosophy,  a 
cult,  must  never  be  allowed  to  take  the  place  of 
the  august  conception  of  a  personal  God  living, 
ruling,  inspiring,  in  the  whole  range  of  a  nation's 
life. 

2.  Another  original  ideal  which  we  must 
conserve  is  that  of  a  pure  democracy.  Any 
reading  of  colonial  history  makes  plain  the  fact 
that  the  people  coming  hither  from  whatever 
monarchical  and  aristocratic  phase  of  European 
life,  came  hither  to  establish  government  on  the 
basis  of  human  brotherhood.  This  broad  re 
publicanism  was  indeed  truer  in  some  parts  of 


1 70     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

the  country  than  others,  but  at  least  it  was  every 
where  theoretically  recognized.  In  New  Eng 
land  it  was  absolutely  acknowledged.  Rank 
was  "  but  the  guinea's  stamp,"  and  that  stamp 
counted  for  little.  The  Puritans,  the  Quakers, 
and  the  Scotch  pretty  nearly  justified  Tennyson's 
lines : 

"  Kind  hearts  are  more  than  coronets, 
And  simple  faith  than  Norman  blood." 

For  a  hundred  years  the  early  simplicity  of  life 
remained ;  masters  and  servants  sat  at  the  same 
table.  Now  we  have  great  corporations  and 
masses,  and  the  personal  element  is  lost  in  the  or 
ganization.  Common  dangers  and  hopes  bound 
the  early  settlers  in  bonds  which  nothing  could 
break  ;  differences  of  character,  not  of  position, 
were  the  separating  factors  of  life.  And  that 
fact  was  the  corner-stone  of  free  government ; 
that  made  possible  the  Declaration  of  Independ 
ence  and  all  that  it  implied. 

That  sense  of  a  common  brotherhood,  inde 
pendent  of  position  or  outward  circumstances, 
was  the  lesson  the  early  colonists  learned,  not 
from  their  life  in  the  lands  whence  they  came, 
but  from  the  gospel  which  was  their  most 
precious  heritage.  Sociology  is  the  hackneyed 
word  of  to-day.  But  it  is  no  new  science.  It  is 
as  old  as  the  New  Testament,  as  old  as  the  teach 
ings  of  Jesus,  as  old  as  the  Ten  Commandments. 


Christian  Conservation  171 

The  social  ideal,  founded  on  a  pure  democracy, 
was  held  not  indeed  as  a  science,  but  as  a  work 
ing  basis  of  life  by  the  early  settlers. 

In  the  stratifications  of  modern  life  we  have 
gone  away  from  that  ideal.  It  is  this  fact  forced 
upon  us  by  our  social  and  economic  conditions 
that  makes  the  call  for  socialism.  The  times 
are  out  of  joint.  The  people  are  not  having 
their  full  chance.  Greed  and  social  ambition  are 
opening  chasms  between  classes,  and  something 
must  be  done  to  fill  them  or  bridge  them.  This 
is  the  cry  that  fills  the  air.  It  is  idle  to  ignore 
or  to  minimize  it.  Nor,  on  the  other  hand, 
is  it  necessary  to  maintain  that  only  a  social  and 
economic  revolution  can  cure  these  ills.  It  is 
possible  to  recover  and  conserve  the  idea  we 
have  partly  lost.  And  we  may  do  it  by  going 
back  to  the  same  democratic  Book  which  was 
the  guide  of  our  fathers  and  furnished  for  them 
the  true  philosophy  of  life. 

The  church — even  when  most  democratic — 
has  not  realized  her  sociological  mission.  For 
several  reasons  her  ear  has  not  been  acute  to  the 
call  of  the  humanities.  In  the  early  centuries 
asceticism  shut  men  away  from  each  other. 
Ceremonialism  in  the  Middle  Ages  smothered 
the  higher  ethical  sentiments.  Later,  dogmatism 
that  laid  supreme  stress  on  technical  definitions 
of  doctrine  was  hostile  to  a  fair  view  of  society 
and  its  claims.  Biblical  sciences  were  not  far 


172     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

enough  advanced  to  give  us  a  true  view  of  the 
Bible  as  largely  a  sociological  book,  meant  to 
teach  us  our  duty  to  our  brother.  And  because 
the  church  has  not  rightly  conceived  that  broad 
mission,  other  cults  have  risen  to  hear  the  call 
of  humanity  and  to  do  for  mankind  what  the 
church  was  ordained  to  do.  Socialism  is  the 
blind  giant  feeling  around  for  temple  pillars 
whereby  to  pull  down  society  and  bring  in  a  new 
day  of  brotherhood.  But  it  will  not  come  that 
way.  It  will  come  on  the  old  road  that  has  been 
opened  for  all  reforms. 

Along  that  path  the  Christian  church  in  these 
days  is  making  rapid  progress.  An  intense  and 
unbiblical  individualism  came  in  with  the  Middle 
Ages  and  the  rise  of  monasticism.  Then  the 
most  serious  endeavour  of  pious  souls  was  to  get 
away  from  the  world.  The  world  was  bad. 
Individual  salvation  must  come  by  renouncing  it. 
And  the  reformation  theology  did  not  wholly 
free  itself  from  this  false  conception.  Individual 
ism  still  reigned  even  after  Luther  and  Calvin 
had  set  the  world  free  from  the  trammels  of 
monastic  doctrine.  But  in  these  latter  days  we 
are  witnessing  a  marked  return  to  Christ's  ideal 
of  a  kingdom  on  earth  and  to  such  inter-rela 
tions  of  people  as  will  bring  that  kingdom.  We 
are  beginning  to  realize  that  individual  salvation 
can  come  completely  only  through  social  regener 
ation,  that  there  is  no  true  keeping  of  the  first 


Christian  Conservation  173 

table  of  the  law,  love  of  God,  without  keeping 
also  the  second  table,  which  is  love  to  our 
brother — and  that  not  merely  from  the  altruistic 
motive  of  helping  our  brother,  but  from  a  con- 
ception  of  the  profound  truth  that  our  own 
progress  towards  heaven  is  somewhat  conditioned 
on  our  taking  another  with  us.  Into  the  higher 
ranges  of  life,  here  or  elsewhere,  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  going  alone.  This  democratic  ideal  of 
the  social  mission  of  the  church  is  now  seriously 
challenging  the  attention  of  all  thoughtful  people. 
This  is  evidenced  by  the  number  of  books  bear 
ing  on  the  social  message  and  the  social  program 
of  Christianity,  that  are  coming  from  the  presses 
of  all  Christian  lands,  and  by  the  organizations, 
inside  and  outside  the  Christian  church,  whose 
stress  is  on  this  fundamental  obligation  of  brother 
hood.  The  World  Congress  of  Races,  held  in 
London  to  consider  in  its  world-wide  bearing  this 
democratic  principle,  is  one  of  the  largest  and 
most  philosophic  movements,  and  the  most 
significant  of  the  trend  of  the  times. 

In  the  same  direction,  and  with  programs  for 
definite  results,  are  the  missionary  plans  of  many 
denominations  to  abolish  class  distinctions  in  the 
church,  and  to  bring  classes  of  people  now  widely 
separated  by  social  or  economic  barriers,  into  the 
fellowship  of  a  common  brotherhood.  More  de 
pends  on  the  success  of  these  movements  than 
we  readily  recognize.  The  democratic  ideal  of 


174     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

the  Bible,  more  or  less  reflected  in  our  earl/ 
national  history,  must  come  back  and  become 
the  guiding  star  of  the  Christian  church.  The 
Gospel  has  the  only  branch  that  sweetens  the 
waters  of  a  bitter  popular  discontent.  If  the 
church  fails  in  her  mission  here,  she  fails  at  the 
most  critical  point  in  her  history. 

3.  Another  ideal  of  colonial  history  is  that  of 
a  broad  base  for  the  national  life.  It  is  expressed 
not  in  any  science,  or  philosophy,  but  in  the  com 
position  of  the  early  population.  It  is  often  said 
that  our  colonial  life  was  single,  that  a  purs 
Anglo-Saxon  stock  first  settled  the  country,  and 
in  confirmation  we  are  pointed  to  New  England. 
Those  who  deplore,  or  antagonize,  the  immigra 
tion  of  to-day  lay  stress  on  what  is  supposed  to 
have  been  the  purity  of  our  original  stock.  But 
nothing  could  be  farther  from  the  truth.  Our 
first  experiment  of  republican  government  was  an 
experiment  of  a  mixture  of  people.  Our  earliest 
settlements,  made  indeed  for  conquest  more  than 
for  permanence,  beginning  in  Florida  and  extend 
ing  westward  to  the  Pacific,  were  of  Spanish 
origin.  The  first  attempt  at  permanent  settle 
ment  was  that  of  the  French  Huguenots,  in 
Florida.  Then  came  French  colonists  along  the 
St.  Lawrence,  and  pushing  west  to  the  Great 
Lakes  and  the  Mississippi  Valley. 

At  the  same  time  the  English  came  in  at  the 
mouth  of  the  James  River  and  established  the  first 


Christian  Conservation  175 

permanent  Protestant  mission  in  America.  Im 
mediately  after,  the  Pilgrims — another  strain  of 
English  stock — made  Plymouth  Bay  immortal. 
Later  in  the  seventeenth  century,  the  Irish  came 
into  the  Chesapeake  and  settled  Maryland.  The 
Swedes  made  homes  in  Delaware.  The  Germans 
came  up  the  Delaware.  The  Dutch  came  up  the 
Hudson. 

It  is  said  that  as  early  as  1664  eighteen 
languages  were  represented  among  the  few 
colonists  on  Manhattan  Island.  Indeed,  the 
multiplying  of  languages  on  that  island  has 
not  kept  pace  with  the  growth  of  the  popu 
lation.  There  were  more  languages  spoken 
in  1664,  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  people, 
than  now  in  1911.  Those,  then,  who  oppose 
immigration  cannot  base  their  argument  on 
colonial  times.  The  history  of  the  country  is  a 
history  of  immigrations.  In  the  whole  story  of 
the  world  there  has  been  nothing  like  it.  Immi 
gration  varies  in  the  passing  of  time  only  in  its 
volume  and  breadth.  And,  in  either,  in  itself 
considered,  there  is  no  occasion  for  great  alarm. 

More  nations  have  gone  to  pieces  on  the  rock 
of  their  homogeneity  than  on  any  other.  Her 
bert  Spencer  long  ago  said,  "  It  may  be  reason 
ably  held  that  both  because  of  its  size  and  the 
heterogeneity  of  its  components,  the  American 
nation  will  be  a  long  time  in  evolving  its  ultimate 
form,  but  that  its  ultimate  form  will  be  high." 


176     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

He  adds  that  the  mixture  of  populations  will  pro 
duce  a  more  powerful  type  of  man  than  has 
hitherto  existed.  His  conclusion  rests  on  "  bio 
logical  truth."  The  great  European  nations  have 
grown  out  of  varieties. 

But  biological  truth  must  not  be  trusted  for  too 
much.  The  mere  mingling  of  races  has  not  al 
ways  been  salutary.  The  incursions  of  Asiatic 
hordes  into  Eastern  Europe  had  little  educational 
and  no  moral  effect.  The  people  of  China,  with 
their  immense  eastward  immigration  far  back  in 
the  twilight  of  history,  remained  stationary  for 
ages.  The  barbarians  who  invaded  Rome  were 
not  saved  by  its  culture,  but,  later,  by  the  mis 
sionary  activity  of  the  church  ;  and  even  Great 
Britain,  so  far  as  one  can  see,  had  to  this  day 
been  a  battle-field  of  mutually  destructive  clans  if 
St.  Augustine  and  his  followers  had  not  crossed  the 
Channel.  In  the  light  of  history  the  regenera 
tion  of  America  cannot  be  trusted  to  social  evo 
lution. 

Nor  is  it  wise  to  ignore  the  peril  which  comes 
with  the  fine  possibility.  It  is  that  of  which  not 
the  politician,  but  the  Christian,  should  take  note. 
The  church  is  the  great  harmonizer  because  it 
supplants  the  superstitions  and  negations  of  peo 
ple  with  the  religion  which  alone  has  divine 
authority  and  power  fitted  to  all  human  condi 
tions.  In  this  view,  the  Home  Missionary  prob 
lems  become  intensely  interesting  alike  to  the 


Christian  Conservation  177 

Christian  and  the  patriot.  Most  of  these  people 
coming  to  us  bring  with  them  either  a  religion,  or 
a  denial  of  religion,  which  must  be  modified  or 
overcome  by  the  Gospel.  How  various  are  the 
forms  and  how  wise  must  be  the  teachings  and 
plans  by  which  they  are  met ! 

And  here  comes  the  question  raised  by  the 
important  difference  between  earlier  and  present 
immigration.  The  early  was  mainly  Protestant, 
almost  wholly  Christian,  at  least  in  name.  To 
found  a  pure  faith  and  to  enjoy  freedom  of  con 
science  in  devotion  to  it,  this  was  the  reason  for 
nearly  all  colonial  immigration.  The  reasons 
now  are  different  and  various.  In  some  measure 
our  incoming  aliens  are  fleeing  from  persecution. 
But  as  a  broad  statement,  the  people  who  come 
to  us  come  for  political  or  economic  reasons. 
There  is,  as  a  rule,  an  economic  push  on  the  other 
side  of  the  sea  and  an  economic  pull  on  this  side. 
When  there  are  hard  times  in  Europe  the  people 
are  loosened  and  ready  to  move.  When  there 
are  good  times  here,  the  pull  becomes  determina 
tive.  The  amount  of  immigration  is  thus  deter 
mined  by  conditions  abroad  and  at  home.  A 
study  of  immigration  charts  for  past  decades  re 
veals  the  fact  that  good  times  here  have  swelled 
the  stream,  while  hard  times  here  have  at  once 
checked  its  flow. 

And  as  such  hard  times  have  recently  been  felt 
not  so  much  in  Great  Britain  and  Germany  as  in 


178     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

Eastern  and  Southern  Europe,  the  character  of  our 
immigration  has  radically  changed. 

This  fact  constitutes  the  new  challenge  to  the 
Christian  church.  The  immigration  from  Italy 
was  practically  nothing  a  half  century  ago.  Last 
year  it  reached  the  total  of  223,453.  The  immi 
gration  from  Hungary,  begun  fifty  years  ago,  was 
a  negligible  quantity  for  decades.  Last  year  it 
reached  the  total  of  123,5 19.  The  incoming  from 
Russia  was  practically  nothing  fifty  years  ago. 
Last  year  it  amounted  to  189,377.  These  figures 
preach  their  own  loud  sermon.  These  three  coun 
tries  alone  sent  us  last  year  536,349.  It  would  be 
both  un-American  and  un-Christian  to  prohibit 
these  people  from  coming  to  us  :  un-American  be 
cause  against  the  whole  trend  of  our  history  and 
against  our  fundamental  national  principles  ;  un- 
Christian  because  God  is  thus  giving  us  a  great 
chance  to  do  foreign  missionary  work  on  our  own 
soil.  The  "  open  door  "  and  the  "  adversaries  " 
(or  difficulties)  were  alike  alluring  to  Paul  when 
he  went  to  Ephesus.  They  should  be  to  us. 

The  state  here  has  a  great  and  grave  problem. 
It  is  to  distribute  (so  far  as  the  state  can  do  it) 
this  vast  mass,  that  assimilation  shall  be  swifter 
and  more  complete.  It  is  to  provide  adequate 
school  facilities  that  illiteracy  may  disappear.  It 
is  to  provide  employment  that  abject  and  de 
pressing  poverty  may  disappear.  It  is  to  guard 
our  gates  against  the  entrance  of  people  who,  in 


Christian  Conservation  ]  79 

spite  of  all  the  country  could  do,  would  be  a 
menace  to  our  peace  and  prosperity. 

And  here  comes  the  opportunity  of  the  Chris 
tian  church.  It  is  true  that  vast  numbers  of  our 
aliens  are  not  from  the  lands  which  made  our 
greatness.  They  are  a  wholly  different  stock. 
They  are  loaded  down  with  inheritances  that  are 
strangers  to  the  best  things  among  us.  But  the 
church  has  been  mightiest  when  she  has  taken 
account,  not  of  her  fears,  but  of  the  Gospel  that 
is  the  power  of  God. 

Nor  is  the  field  a  wholly  discouraging  one. 
The  labours  of  the  last  decade  in  this  difficult 
field  have  yielded  often  surprising  harvests. 
Many  of  those  who  come  to  us  are  as  glad  to  be 
freed  from  ecclesiastical  as  from  political  tyranny. 
They  are  not  the  "  offscouring  of  the  earth." 
Many  of  them  cherish  noble  aspirations  for 
themselves  and  their  children.  They  will  re 
spond  to  the  hand  of  help  and  to  the  voice  of 
Christian  love.  Let  us  have  a  dignified  confi 
dence  in  the  power  of  the  Gospel  and  in  the 
force  of  American  institutions.  Neither  has 
failed  in  the  past,  nor  will  in  the  future.  A  great 
financier  has  made  us  familiar  with  the  phrase, 
"  undigested  securities."  These  foreigners  are 
our  "  undigested  securities."  On  our  ability  to 
digest  them  depend  the  health  and  moral  action 
of  a  large  part  of  the  body  politic.  What  we 
is  not  more  bars  to  keep  foreigners  out  of 


180     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

our  land,  but  more  labourers  to  work  with  them 
and  teach  them  how  to  gather  the  harvest  of 
American  and  Christian  liberty. 

4.  Another  ideal  that  pleads  for  conservation 
is  the  ideal  of  country  life  and  the  country 
church.  Centres  of  population  are  the  nation's 
second  thought.  The  original  is  the  country 
community,  and  in  many  ways  it  is  the  nation's 
best  estate.  How  beautiful,  notwithstanding  the 
perils  that  often  beset  it,  was  the  rural  life  of 
New  England  or  Virginia  communities !  The 
stories  based  on  that  life  constitute  some  of  our 
most  alluring  romances.  The  simplicity,  sin 
cerity,  neighbourliness  and  friendliness  of  it  fur 
nish  continual  themes  for  novelist  and  poet.  Of 
that  life  the  church  was  the  centre.  It  was  the 
vivific  force  that  gave  meaning  and  beauty  to  all 
the  transactions  of  the  community.  It  supplied 
the  standard  of  civic  as  well  as  personal  virtue, 
of  corporate  as  well  as  individual  enterprise. 

But  that  ideal  has  lost  some  of  its  power.  The 
measure  and  meaning  of  life  are  now  taken  from 
the  city.  There  are  erected  the  standards  that 
govern  men.  There  is  the  race,  and  there  are 
the  awards.  As  a  result,  the  country  commu 
nity  is  decimated.  The  vigour  of  it  has  gone 
away.  The  church  is  left  desolate,  or  depleted 
and  dispirited.  Though  it  is  still  true  that  most 
of  the  successful  men  in  business,  or  in  the  pro 
fessions,  were  country  boys,  they  cannot  now 


Christian  Conservation  181 

have  the  kind  of  a  start  they  had  in  the 
country  during  the  last  century.  Lacking  the 
start,  they  may  not  make  their  race  on  so  high  a 
level. 

But  one  of  the  good  signs  of  the  times  is  the 
return  to  country  ideals.  True,  the  last  census 
discloses  the  fact  that  the  trend  is  still  city-ward. 
But  there  is  a  reaction,  though  at  present  it 
shows  but  as  a  small  eddy  on  the  margin  of  the 
river's  current.  At  last  the  attention  of  the 
church  is  drawn  to  the  importance  of  the  little 
church  among  the  hills.  Modern  science  has  in 
vested  the  country  with  a  new  charm.  It  has 
taken  away  its  loneliness.  It  has  brought  it  into 
the  neighbourhood  of  the  world.  The  trolley 
and  the  automobile,  the  telephone  and  the  free 
delivery  go  everywhere ;  and  the  village  and  the 
town  are  side  by  side. 

To  fit  the  country  for  this  new  day  which  is 
surely  coming,  certain  agencies  that  the  church 
can  furnish,  or  stimulate,  are  the  immediate  de 
mand.  Rural  life  must  be  made  rich  and  strong, 
and  the  country  church,  more  than  any  other 
force,  can  achieve  this  result.  The  church  should 
be  the  community's  best  intellectual  stimulus. 
She  has  not  always  been  so.  But  she  has  the 
character  of  intellectual  freedom.  Free  to  seek 
truth  in  every  realm,  she  touches  the  loftiest 
themes  and  represents  the  highest  intellectual 
progress  of  the  world.  Let  her  take  her  place  in 


182     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

this  kind  of  leadership.  It  is  her  privilege  to 
open  the  library,  establish  reading  circles,  and 
organize  clubs  for  periodical  literature  that  tlu: 
best  of  current  thinking  may  be  in  every  home. 
In  the  quaint  little  town  of  Wimbourne,  in  the 
south  of  England,  there  is  a  venerable  abbey, 
one  of  whose  treasures  is  a  chained  library 
Every  book  is  chain-bound  to  its  case,  mute  wit 
ness  of  the  time  when  learning  was  not  free 
There  are  no  chained  libraries  now.  No  com 
munity  should  be  bookless  that  has  a  Christian 
church.  The  city  need  no  longer  have  a  great 
advantage  in  this  regard. 

So,  also,  in  the  matter  of  schools.  With  all 
our  pedagogical  advantages,  country  schools 
have  not  advanced  in  proportion.  In  many 
regions  they  have  so  lamentably  declined  that 
illiteracy  is  on  the  increase.  Little  money  and 
few  pupils  in  "  the  little  red  schoolhouse  "  result 
in  underpaid  and  incompetent  teachers,  short 
terms  and  poor  schooling.  These  things  have 
brought  the  ignorance  and  demoralization  that 
exist  in  some  of  our  mountain  regions.  It  is  for 
the  church  to  help  us  to  get  back  to  the  ideals  of 
that  day  when  men  fit  to  be  university  professors 
taught  the  country,  or  village,  schools. 

The  church  must  take  a  hand  in  Christianizing 
the  social  life  of  the  country.  Its  moral  level  is 
often  of  the  worst.  The  social  conditions  often 
minister  to  the  things  that  are  debasing.  In  the 


Christian  Conservation  183 

smaller  communities  the  church  has  a  special 
chance  to  recover  some  of  the  lost  ideals. 
There  life  is  less  artificial  and  more  democratic. 
Neighbourliness  is  not  abolished,  as  it  is  in  the 
city.  The  church  can  become  the  centre  of  the 
social  life,  as  once  she  was.  She  can  hold  out  a 
social  appeal  for  all  ages  and  conditions. 

A  country  church  properly  equipped  and  in 
spired  with  a  genuine  spirit  of  Christian  democ 
racy  will  be  the  mightiest  enemy  to  the  saloon 
and  the  lounging  place,  and  to  that  emptiness 
and  stupidity  of  life  which  is  almost  as  bad.  By 
all  the  pull  of  our  material  life  the  country  com 
munity  tends  to  be  heavy,  inert,  and  content 
with  low,  or  commonplace,  ideas.  Multitudes 
never  get  much  above  the  question,  "  What  shall 
we  eat  and  drink  ?  "  There  is  no  fine  living  on 
that  level.  What  shall  give  the  community  a 
push  towards  better  things,  towards  charity  and 
kindness  and  purity  and  sacrifice?  Not  busi 
ness  ;  that  pulls  only  on  its  own  level.  Not  so 
ciety  ;  that  often  pulls  down.  The  church  is  the 
best  agency  to  draw  men  away  from  trifling  and 
unworthy  pursuits  into  the  realm  of  high  moral 
endeavour  and  enjoyment.  Is  life  in  many  rural 
communities  commonplace  and  heavy  and  unin 
spiring  ?  There  is  no  sufficient  reason  for  it  in 
any  neighbourhood — no  matter  how  remote — 
where  God  has  a  company  of  His  people  who 
have  in  their  keeping  the  secret  of  high  ideals 


184     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

and  fine  aspirations,  who  have  the  standards  and 
hopes  and  joys  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 

5.  Another  of  the  ideals  that  were  the  glory 
of  our  colonial  history  was  that  of  the  free  school 
system.  Without  it,  the  Republic  could  not  long 
exist,  since  intelligence  lies  at  the  basis  of  self- 
government.  Its  origin  was  significant.  The 
historian  says : 

"  The  common  school  system  was  derived 
from  Geneva,  the  work  of  John  Calvin ;  was 
carried  by  John  Knox  into  Scotland,  and  so  be 
came  the  property  of  the  English-speaking  na 
tions."  The  historian  might  have  added  that  it 
was  taken  from  Geneva  to  Holland  and  Sweden. 
In  Sweden,  in  1637,  it  is  said  that  not  a  single 
peasant  child  was  unable  to  read  and  write.  At 
the  outbreak  of  its  war  with  Spain,  the  peasants 
of  Holland  could  read  and  write  well,  and  in  the 
first  Synod  of  Dort,  1574,  it  was  directed  that 
"  the  servants  of  the  church  obtain  from  trustees 
in  every  locality  permission  for  the  appointment 
of  schoolmasters,  and  an  order  for  their  com 
pensation  as  in  the  past." 

Holland  probably  held  preeminence  for  schools 
supported  by  the  government.  "  A  land,"  says 
Motley,  "  where  every  child  went  to  school, 
where  almost  every  individual  inhabitant  could 
read  and  write;  where  even  the  middle  classes 
were  proficient  in  mathematics  and  the  classics, 
and  could  speak  two  or  more  modern  languages." 


Christian  Conservation 

From  this  it  would  follow,  almost  as  a  matter  of 
course,  that  among  the  first  free  schools  sup 
ported  by  the  government  in  this  country  were 
those  established  by  the  Dutch  settlers  of  New 
York. 

In  1642  it  was  the  law  of  Puritan  New  Eng 
land  that  "  none  of  the  brethren  shall  suffer  so 
much  barbarism  in  their  families  as  not  to  teach 
their  children  and  apprentices  so  much  learning 
as  may  enable  them  to  perfectly  read  the  Eng 
lish  tongue."  And  in  1647  it  was  ordered  in  all 
Puritan  colonies  "  to  the  end  that  learning  may 
not  be  buried  in  the  graves  of  our  forefathers, 
that  every  township,  after  the  Lord  has  increased 
them  to  the  number  of  fifty  householders,  shall 
appoint  one  to  teach  all  children  to  read  and 
write,  and  when  they  shall  have  increased  to  the 
number  of  one  hundred  families,  they  shall  set 
up  a  grammar  school,  the  master  thereof  being 
able  to  instruct  the  youths  so  far  as  they  may  be 
fitted  for  the  university." 

The  eminence  of  New  England  lies  originally, 
not  in  her  great  colleges  (though  her  liberality 
to  higher  education  has  always  been  conspicuous), 
but  in  her  common  schools.  Connecticut,  under 
the  lead  of  Hooker,  has  the  honour  of  first 
securing  free  schools  supported  by  government. 

We  cannot  be  said  to  have  failed  in  this  ideal. 
And  yet,  it  has  not  been  fully  realized.  The 
common  school  system  is  everywhere  recognized. 


l86     Conservation  of  National  Ideals 

Finely  equipped  schools,  academies,  colleges  ar  d 
universities  abound,  yet  in  certain  parts  of  the 
country  the  percentage  of  illiteracy  is  large,  ard 
all  over  the  land  it  is  far  above  that  of  sone 
European  countries.  Thus  the  illiteracy  of  Ge;- 
many,  as  of  Sweden,  is  only  one  one-hundredth 
per  cent.  That  of  the  United  States,  in  the  census 
of  1900,  was  ten  and  seven-tenths  per  cent.  The 
largest  percentage  of  illiteracy  is  in  the  Southern 
states,  accounted  for  in  part  by  the  large  Negro 
population;  the  smallest  is  in  the  Central  West 
— Nebraska,  Iowa  and  Kansas,  in  the  order 
named,  having  the  least.  That  the  New  England 
states  and  New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  after 
their  centuries  of  education,  should  still  show 
large  illiteracy,  is  due,  in  large  measure — per 
haps  entirely — to  the  large  immigration  into 
those  states. 

But  the  general  fact  remains  that  our  educa 
tional  ideals  need  to  be  extended.  In  certain 
Southern  and  Western  states  the  percentage  of 
illiteracy  is  large  among  the  native  white  popula 
tion,  in  North  Carolina  nearly  twenty  per  cent., 
in  Tennessee  and  South  Carolina,  nearly  fifteen 
per  cent.  With  the  Negro  population  it  ranges 
from  thirty-nine  to  sixty  per  cent.  Until  our 
illiteracy  approaches  somewhat  the  percentage 
of  the  best  European  countries  we  cannot  count 
ourselves  free  from  the  dangers  which  in  a  re 
public,  even  more  than  in  a  monarchy,  are  invited 


Christian  Conservation  187 

by  popular  ignorance.  Important,  therefore, 
among  the  American  ideals  to  be  conserved  is 
that  of  a  universal  education,  sufficient  to  enable 
all  the  people  to  have  an  intelligent  share  in  the 
affairs  of  government. 

6.  One  more  ideal,  and  the  most  important, 
can  only  be  touched.  It  is  that  without  which 
all  others  will  fail  of  their  best  effect — the  higher 
moral  and  spiritual  life. 

Christian  principles  and  ideals  come  to  their 
potency  only  when  they  are  incarnate  in  Chris 
tian  service.  The  church,  at  last,  will  conserve 
her  ideals  only  by  living  them.  There  is  no 
"  cold  storage  "  for  ideals.  Their  place  is  in  the 
markets  of  the  world.  So  shall  they  be  conserved. 


MISSIONS  AT  HOME 


JOHN  W.  ARCTANDER 

The  Apostle  of  Alaska 

The   Story  of  WILLIAM    DUNCAN  OP  METLAKAHTtA.     Illus 
trated,   i2mo,   Cloth,  net  $1.50. 

"An  important  historical  document  as  well  as  a  story  of 
absorbing  interest  and  an  heroic  record  that  will  thrill  the 
hearts  of  all  lovers  of  golden  deeds.  It  tells  the  story  of 
William  Duncan  the  missionary  among  the  great  detached 
section  of  the  United  States.  Nothing  could  be  more  ro 
mantic,  more  thrilling,  more  redolent  of  patience  and  high 
courage,  than  this  story  of  his  life  work — a  thorough  and 
absorbing  record." — Minneapolis  Tribune. 

MARY  HELM 

From  Darkness  to  Light 

A   Story  of  Negro   Progress.      Home  Mission   Study   Course. 

i6mo,   Paper,  net  3oc. ;    Cloth,  net  soc. 

"Of  inestimable  help  in  forming  a  true  estimate  of  the  racial 
differences  that  have  rendered  difficult  the  processes  of  civil 
izing  the  African.  No  one  is  better  fitted  to  present  the 
problem  impartially.  The  reader  must  be  struck  with  Miss 
Helm's  impartiality  as  well  as  with  her  intimate  knowledge 
of  her  subject." — Louisville  Courier-Journal. 

ARCHIBALD  McLEAN 

Alexander  Campbell  as  a  Preacher 

i6mo,    Art  boards,   net    3oc. 

"Brother  McLean  has  put  the  whole  brotherhood  under 
new  obligation.  Every  family  in  our  ranks  ought  to  read 
it,  and  if  tens  of  thousands  of  preachers  and  leaders  in 
other  religious  bodies  should  do  the  same,  it  would  help  to 
place  this  great,  but  poorly  understood  man,  in  his  proper 
place  among  the  few  truly  great  preachers  in  the  history 
of  the  Church." — American  Home  Missionary. 

IMMIGRATION 

EDWARD  A.  STEINER 

The  Immigrant  Tide— Its  Ebb  and  Flow 

Illustrated,  8vo,  Cloth,  net  $1.30. 

Perhaps  the  greatest  living  authority  on  the  immigrant 
to-day  is  the  author  of  "On  the  Trail  of  the  Immigrant," 
now  in  its  fifth  edition.  Certain  it  is  that  no  man  has  so 
thoroughly  absorbed  the  subject  or  writes  more  entertain 
ingly  about  it  than  this  profession  in  Iowa  College  who 
twenty-eight  years  ago  came  to  this  country  himself  an  im 
migrant.  His  latest  work  is  divided  into  two  interesting 
sections.  Under  "The  Out-going  Tide"  he  shows  us  the 
influence  of  the  returned  immigrant  upon  his  p.  .sant  home, 
his  social  and  national  life,  etc.  Under  the  division  of 
"The  Incoming  Tide"  he  interprets  the  relation  of  the 
various  races  to  our  institutions,  their  attitude  toward  them 
asd  their  influence  upon  then:. 


MISSIONS,  HISTORICAL,  SCIENTIFIC 


077^  GARY 

A  History  of  Christianity  in  Japan 

Vo.    I.  A    History   of    Roman    Catholic   and    Greek    Orthodox 

Missions   in  Japan. 
Vol.  II.  A  History   of   Protestant  Missions  in  Japan. 

Each  8vo,  Cloth,  $2.50  net;  2  vols.  boxed  $5.00  net. 

Prof.  Harlan  P.  Beach,  of  \ale  University,  says  "This 
work  will  be  recognized  as  a  standard.  Dr.  Gary  is  one  01 
the  most  scholarly  among  the  entire  Japanese  Missionarj 
force  and  his  thoroughness  and  intimate  knowledge  are  de 
rived  from  more  than  thirty  years'  residence  in  Japan." 

JULIUS  RICHTER 

The  History  of  Protestant  Missions 
in  India      8v°»  cioth,  net  $2.50. 

"There  is  hardly  a  single  matter  connected  with  mis 
sions  in  India  upon  which  Dr.  Richter's  book  may  not  be 
consulted  with  the  certainty  of  finding  reliable  and  accurate 
information  and  sound  and  wise  judgment. — Chronicle  of  the 
London  Missionary  Society. 

G.    CAMPBELL  MORGAN 

The  Missionary  Manifesto 

Being  a   Study  of  the  Great  Commission. 
i6mo,    Cloth,    net   75c. 

Dr.  Morgan's  forceful  and  illuminating  studies  find 
ready  welcome  among  thoughtful  readers  and  students.  His 
work  emphasizes  the  imperative  character  of  our  Lord's 
commands  and  its  accompanying  equipment  for  the  service. 

ROBERT  SLOAN  LA  TIMER 

Liberty  of  Conscience  Under  Three 
Tsars 

A   Study  of   Evangelical   Effort   in   Russia   1856-1909.      I2mo, 
*          Cloth,   net  $1.50. 

This  struggle  for  liberty  of  conscience,  marked  by  in 
tense  devotion  and  sacrifice,  during  which  men,  women  and 
children  have  suffered  the  keenest  persecution,  counting 
not  their  lives  dear  unto  themselves,  is  replete  with  incidents 
that  awaken  the  largest  sympathy  and  admiration  of  those 
who  have  sought  to  be  true  to  conscience.  The  record  is 
often  most  tragic,  and  can  but  awaken  sympathy  for  the  new 
movement  now  in  progress  in  that  lanol  so  long  barred 
against  the  light  of  the  open  Bible. 


MISSIONS,  BIOGRAPHICAL 


DR.  GEORGE  BROWN 

The  Life  of  Dr.  George  Brown 

Pioneer,  Explorer  and  Missionary.  An  Autobiography, 
•with  in  illustrations  and  map.  8vo,  Cloth,  net  $3.50. 

"Since  the  appearance  of  John  G.  Paton's  Autobiography 
we  have  read  no  work  of  such  entrancing  interest.  It  is  a 
narrative  of  this  pioneer  missionary's  forty-eight  years  of 
residence  and  travel  in  Samoa,  New  Britain,  New  Ireland, 
New  Guinea,  and  the  Solomon  Islands." — British  Weekly. 

JESSE  PAGE,  F.  R,  G.  S. 

The  Black  Bishop  . 

Preface  by  Eugene  Stock,  D.  C.  L-,  with  frontispiece, 
sixteen  illustrations  and  map.  8vo,  Cloth,  net  $2.00. 

"The  simple  life-story,  told  mainly  by  himself,  of  a 
West  African  who  was  a  kidnapped  slave  when  a  boy  of  fif 
teen  and  forty-three  years  later  became  the  first  negro  bishop 
of  the  Church  of  England.  Much  information  is  given  be 
side  the  biographical  details,  about  the  problems  presented 
by  the  Nigerian  peoples  to  their  white  rulers  and  particularly 
of  the  extent,  influence  and  probable  future  of  the  Moham 
medan  invasion." — Nation. 

W.  H.  T.  GAIRDNER,  B.  A. 

D.M.  Thornton 

Nine  illustrations,  i2mo,   Cloth,   net  $1.25. 

"The  Student  Movement"  says:  "It  is  likely  to  dominate 
the  thoughts  of  the  missionary  thinker  for  many  years." 
Devoted  largely  to  experiences  in  Egypt  and  lessons  gath 
ered  on  this  field — it  tells  of  a  man  who  devoted  his  intel 
lectual  powers  to  thinking  out  the  wider  problems  of  the 
evangelization  of  the  world  and  the  spread  of  Christian  in 
stitutions  in  Mission  lands. 

GEORGE  HAWKER 

The  Life  of  George  Grenfell, 

Congo  Missionary  and  Explorer 

Illustrated,   8vo,    Cloth,   net   $2.00. 

"This  may  be  regarded  as  a  companion  volume  to  Sir 
Harry  Johnston's  'George  Grenfell  and  the  Congo' — it  was, 
indeed,  originally  arranged  that  Sir  Harry  Johnston  and  Mr. 
Hawker  should  collaborate  in  a  single  volume  as  a  memorial 
to  one  of  the  greatest  names  in  the  annals  of  equatorial 
Africa." — London  Times. 

REV.  JAMES  WELLS,  D.  D. 

Stewart  of  Lovedale 

The  Romance  of  Missions  in  Africa  told  in  the  Lite  of 
James  Stewart,  D.  A.,  M.  D.,  F.  R.  G.  S.  With  forty-two 
illustrations  and  two  maps.  8vo,  Cloth,  net  $1.50. 

"We  may  heartily  congratulate  Dr.  Wells  on  having 
written  a  book  that  will  live,  and  more  than  that,  a  book  that 
will  create  life  wherever  it  is  read." — Dr.  Robertson  Nicoll. 
in  the  British  Weekly. 


THE  BRIGHT  SIDE  OF  MISSIONARY  LIFE 


HELEN  E.  SPRINGER 

Snap  Shots  from  Sunny  Africa 

Introduction  by  Bishop  Hartzler.     Illustrated,  i2mo,   Cloth 
net  $1.00. 

A  singularly  interesting1  collection  of  incidents  of  mis 
sion  life  among  the  African  natives,  &ach  as  "Attending  a 
Native  Dance,"  "An  African  Vanity  Fair,"  "The  Glorious 
Fourth  in  Africa,"  "Watapo's  Wedding,"  "Bicycling  in  Cen 
tral  Africa,"  and  many  other  subjects  of  equal  fascination 

ANNIE  L  A.   BAIRD 

Daybreak  in  Korea 

Illustrated,   i6mo,  cloth,   net   6oc. 

"A  keen,  incisive  story,  which  depicts  the  life  of  th< 
Korean  woman  in  a  most  revealing  way.  It  is  just  the  book 
for  those  who  would  quickly  penetrate  beyond  outward  ap- 
pearances  and  see  what  moves  the  Korean  mind.  It  is  full 
of  snap  and  vim  with  a  true  insight  into  reality." — Wm. 
Elliot  Griffis. 

MARY  CULLER  WHITE 

The  Days  of  June 

The  L,ife  Story  of  June  Nicholson,     i6mo,   Cloth,  net  500. 

In  this  little  transcript  from  actual  life  may  be  seen 
clearly  the  "stuff  of  which  missionaries  are  made."  W.  R. 
t,ambreth,  General  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Missions  M.  E. 
Church,  South)  says:  "Such  books  help  us  to  realize  the 

potentiality  of  a  life  given  to  a  life  mission The  spright- 

liness  of  the   author's  style,   the  pathos,   the   insight  and   the 
deep  currents  of  thought  are  almost  inimitable." 

ISABELLA   RIGGS  WILLIAMS 

By  the  Great  Wall 

Selected  Correspondence  of  Isabella  Riggs  Williams,  Mis 
sionary  of  the  American  Board  to  China,  1866-1897. 
With  an  introduction  by  Arthur  H.  Smith.  Illustrated, 

I2mo,   cloth,  net   $1.50. 

"This  volume  is  a  little  window  opened  into  the  life  and 
•work  of  an  exceptionally  equipped  missionary.  Mrs.  Wil 
liams  won  the  hearts  of  Chinese  women  and  girls;  showed 
what  a  Christian  home  may  be,  and  how  the  children  of 
such  a  home  can  be  trained  for  wide  and  unselfish  useful 
ness  wherever  their  lot  is  cast." — Arthur  H,  Smith,  Author 
of  Chinese  Characteristics,  Etc. 


14  DAY  USE 

ElETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

RENEWALS  ONLY— TEL  NO.  642-3405 
This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


JflN  1  6  1970  a 


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BECTD  LP 


JAN  1_5- 


UCIA 
INTERL1BRARY 


LD2lA-60m-6,'69 
(J9096slO)476-A-32 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


